Are Your Vitamins Really Killing You?!? NONSENSE!

If you were listening to the mainstream media over the past week, you've probably noticed widespread coverage of a recent study that basically said that taking vitamins could shorten your life.

Several things came to mind when I first heard about this study. First, were synthetic vitamins used rather than natural vitamins? Secondly, who conducted the study and are they funded by large pharmaceutical companies? And lastly, did the mainstream media twist any of the data as another way to scare people away from seeking proper nutrition through additional vitamin support.

Not surprisingly, I found that my assumptions on all three aspects were right-on target. I will briefly touch on each point.

First of all, the study was conducted by the Archives of Internal Medicine, which is funded by pharmaceutical company advertising, which suggests a huge conflict of interest. The study was named, "Dietary Supplements and Mortality Rate in Older Women" and was actually a 'survey study' conducted by sending 3 surveys over 18 years to almost 39,000 older women by asking them to recall what vitamins and minerals they were taking.

This brings us to our second point, were synthetic vitamins or natural vitamins used?  There is absolutely no way of knowing what sources of 'vitamins' these women were taking, as it was not part of the research. We are strong advocates of taking vitamins from natural sources, not synthetic versions. The brands you find at large department stores, corner drug stores, grocery stores, and even most franchised 'health stores', use synthetic versions. (We will be discussing this in further detail in the coming weeks!)

And finally, was the data twisted by the mainstream media for catchy headlines to scare people out of their vitamins? Which pieces of data did the mainstream media decide to report and focus on? Check out just a few of the article headlines this past week:

* We've Been Wasting a Ton of Money on Vitamins and Dietary Supplements - TIME
* Some common vitamin supplements could increase death risk - MSNBC
* Study links vitamins to higher death rates in women - CTV
* Study: Vitamins may increase death risk in older women - USA Today
* Dietary supplements risky for older women, study finds - LA Times
* Supplements Look Risky In Study Of Older Women - NPR
* Women Who Take Vitamin Supplements May Have Increased Death Risk - Huffington Post

In summary, the work was based on questionnaires and statistical analysis and the mainstream media should not have drawn such strong conclusions from it in the first place.

Ultimately it'd be nice if we could receive proper nutrition from the foods we eat, but for now, adding supplements to our daily routine from natural whole food sources, will help replenish the body with proper vitamins and minerals to keep our bodies running at an optimum level.