From Cancerhelp UK:

"...Another study called the �Beta Carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial�(CARET), looked at whether beta carotene and retinol (vitamin A) could prevent cancer in men and women smokers and ex smokers. The people in the trial were aged from 45 to 69. This trial was also randomised and some participants took a placebo pill. After an average of 4 years of taking the pills, there were 28% more cases of lung cancer diagnosed in people taking the supplements. But 6 years after stopping the pills, the risk of lung cancer had decreased and was almost the same as for people who had not taken the supplements."

As with prescription drugs, it's best to take a look at the contraindications before taking them...and get tested for deficiencies before adding fat-soluable vitamins A, D and E.

Fat soluable vitamins are stored by the body, large doses are toxic. Excess water soluable vitamins, such as C, the B's, etc. get excreted.

Also, some vitamins and minerals are more effective if taken at separate times...such as iron and zinc. Beta Carotene combined with vitamins E, C and Selenium can act together to reduce good serum cholesterol counteracting the benefit of Niacin which increases good cholesterol. That same combination of supplements should not be used by people who are taking statins for cholesterol management.

BTW...There is research data that says that men should not take iron unless it is determined there is a deficiency/anemia. Excess dietary iron from animal-based sources can lead to heart valve damage and heart disease. Curiously, iron from plant-based sources is excreted when there is sufficient stored iron. But, dietary iron from animal-based sources is stored by the body despite there being a sufficient amount of iron stored

Don't even get me started on vitamins and especially supplements. As I said earlier show me the proof! If this crap is all they claim it to be then why won't they do the clinical trials with double blind studies to prove it. It's just more trendy bullish*t.

Sandy's right about the beta carotene thing. I remember when, not too long ago, the health food stores were pushing that.

Some well meaning doctors don't do their fact checking either. My MO suggested I take colloidal silver for mouth sores - It would have permanently dyed my skin grey.

Didn't Penn & Teller do a show on this?

Where I love P&T's B.S.! as it's highly entertaining, I wouldn't take it as an authoratative on any of the subjects it has covered. Where they've never done a show on the subject if I wanted to know the views of P&T on vitamin and supplements I'd just ask someone at the Cato Institute (libertarian thinktank)where they get the majority of their expert opinions from (Penn is a fellow there).


As Brian has pointed out before, clinical trials and double blind studies are expensive and who is going to pay for something like that on a product that cannot be patented. Read up on the patent controversy of tumeric for reference.

Speaking of tumeric, it's a good example here as it's a supplement I take and have taken for years. I started taking it right after being diagnosed with cancer and took it all the way through treatment based on the research I had done on it. It tickled me to see the article posted on OCF news (http://oralcancernews.org/wp/the-ma...py-in-suppressing-head-and-neck-cancers/) and it's benefits in conjunction with Cisplatin as I'd had "many" arguements with my MO regarding it. You can imagine the sense of vindication I felt reading that article and emailing to my oncologist..."I told you so!"

Now I understand that this doesn't hold true with every supplement out there (which is why you must research) and I also agree that the average american doesn't need a multivitamin if they are eating a balanced diet (do a Google search on Average American Nutrition and tell me if you think they are eating a balanced diet). The reason? According to The Bureau of Labor and Statistics the average american spends the majority of their free time in front of the T.V. (2.7 hours/day) or socializing while only a fraction (22% of men and 16% of women) participated in sports, exercise or recreation activities.

When you are exercising and using your body, you are tearing it down and rebuilding it increasing the metabolic activities. Your body is burning through nutrients (vitamins, minerals,protiens, fats, carbs etc...) at an accelerated pace relative to the degree of activity you are doing. So the harder you train or the more active you are the more you'll need to consume. You will get to a point the more active you get(as I have, I know I've tracked it) where you won't be able to do it all through a traditional diet...and I eat 6x per day.

Now I liken the healing process after treatment to the most extreme physical training out there so making sure it has all of the rescources it needs to rebuild itself only makes sense to me. Now I've read Charm's post about his physical accomplishments after cancer and I'm proud of him for it, what I'll also point out however is that the Jevity 1.5 he uses is chalked full of vitamin/mineral supplements so why would he need a multi? Knowing how he is I also know he was pretty good about his diet precancer and that helped him lead his active lifestyle, however I wonder if his marathon times couldn't improve if he'd worked with some of the people I have.

I've trained with world class athletes (olympic wrestlers, Abu Dahbi submission wrestler/UfC fighter, olympic boxers) and have seen how nutrition can affect athletic performance so I'll continue to take my cues from them and their trainers as opposed to a medical dr, who I would see if I'm injured or have a medical condition. I'll always take my advice from those that practice what they preach, first hand knowledge has more valuable insights to me.