News
Vitamins as Integrators?
In the 1920s and '30s, when scientists started discovering vitamins, people were so excited about them that they added them to food. Soon, companies started turning vitamins into little pills and bottling them. And they were an immediate hit.
Soon vitamins were no longer just protecting you from scurvy or rickets, but preventing chronic diseases like dementia and heart disease, and helping you live your best life. Today the big question is: do vitamins as integrators have that power?
We know that eating a diet full of fruits and veggies can help us live longer and healthier. But what happens when you extract those vitamins into one big multivitamin?
One large study recruited 14,000 older men, and gave half multivitamins while the other half were given a placebo. The men were tracked for more than a decade. And, after all that work? There was no difference in rates of heart attacks and heart disease between the two groups.
Curiously, the men who took the multivitamins had a slightly reduced risk of cancer. But the researchers said we shouldn't get too excited, because other large studies have been really mixed.
The truth seems to be that we still don’t know much about vitamins and their beneficial effects, if taken under the form of a food integrator. Better go for the safe option: eat your real fruit and vegetables, and everything will be fine.
Soon vitamins were no longer just protecting you from scurvy or rickets, but preventing chronic diseases like dementia and heart disease, and helping you live your best life. Today the big question is: do vitamins as integrators have that power?
We know that eating a diet full of fruits and veggies can help us live longer and healthier. But what happens when you extract those vitamins into one big multivitamin?
One large study recruited 14,000 older men, and gave half multivitamins while the other half were given a placebo. The men were tracked for more than a decade. And, after all that work? There was no difference in rates of heart attacks and heart disease between the two groups.
Curiously, the men who took the multivitamins had a slightly reduced risk of cancer. But the researchers said we shouldn't get too excited, because other large studies have been really mixed.
The truth seems to be that we still don’t know much about vitamins and their beneficial effects, if taken under the form of a food integrator. Better go for the safe option: eat your real fruit and vegetables, and everything will be fine.