Dishonesty when Vitamins are Promoted?

I am often astonished at how vitamins are promoted as “good” , when in fact there is often a story behind the story. Dr Mirkin, a respected and experienced doctor, skilled in communicating well and a former radio show hosts wrote this piece below (I could not have said it better!)

The bottom line re vitamins? Buyer beware.

Dr. Gabe Mirkin’s Fitness and Health E-Zine

Heart Attacks Cannot Be Prevented or Treated with Vitamin Pills

November 11, 2012
The first large trial, in which men were randomly assigned to either taking a multivitamin or a placebo and then followed for 11 years, showed that TAKING A MULTIVITAMIN DOES NOT PREVENT STROKES, HEART ATTACKS, or DEATH FROM A HEART ATTACK (Journal of the American Medical Association, November 6, 2012; 308: 1751-1760). This is the most important study on this subject ever because this is the first study that is double blind. Neither the researchers nor the 15,000 physicians studied knew whether they were taking a placebo or a vitamin pill. The researchers randomly selected half of the physicians to take a daily multivitamin, while the other half took a placebo. This study rules out the chance that people who take vitamin pills also do other things that may prevent heart attacks (other studies have found that those most likely to take vitamin pills are wealthier, healthier and more educated than average). Furthermore, this study did not find any evidence that multivitamins are harmful to heart health.
More than 40 percent of American adults take a multivitamin. Many of these people depend on vitamins to protect their health, when instead they should be avoiding heart disease risk factors by:
• exercising, • avoiding processed and fast foods, • avoiding red meat, • avoiding fried foods, • avoiding sugared drinks, sugared desserts and sugar-added foods when they are not exercising, • avoiding smoking and living with smokers, • avoiding taking more than two alcoholic drinks a day, • avoiding overweight, and • eating huge amounts of fruits and vegetables
DISHONESTY BY MANY VITAMIN SELLERS: An editorial accompanying the study states: “While prescription drugs are rigorously tested before they can be sold in stores, supplements can hint at health benefits without strong evidence. Supplement packaging will usually carry a disclaimer such as: “These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease”. But that may not be enough to remind people that no supplements are designed to replace a healthy lifestyle.”