Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Long-term vitamin use lowers death risk

The new study from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center at the University of Washington, looked at 77,719 Washington State residents from 50-76 years old.

The results showed that the use of multivitamins daily over ten years was associated with a 16% decreased risk of death from cardiovascular disease.

Intakes of vitamin E over 215 milligrams per day over the course of ten years were also associated with a 28% reduction in the risk of death from CVD.

While those who took vitamin C (over 322 mg. daily) had a lower risk of death from cancer over a five-year period.

The research appeared in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Even the medical profession has gotten behind their benefits.

An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association stated, “Insufficient vitamin intake is the cause of chronic disease…Evidence shows that suboptimal levels, even those well above levels for sufficiency syndromes, are risk factors for chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis….A large portion of the general population is at increased risk for this reason.”

It goes onto say, “We recommend that all adults take a multivitamin daily. This practice is justified mainly by the known and suspected benefits of supplemental folate, vitamins B6 and B12 and vitamin D in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, cancer and osteoporosis, and because multi-vitamins at that dose are safe and inexpensive.”

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