Nutrition Stop - Vitamins and Minerals - Multivitamins for Everyone

Multivitamins For Everyone

All adults should take a daily multivitamin, according to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The recommendation is a reversal of the journal's long-standing position that multivitamins were unnecessary because essential nutrients could be obtained in the diet. The authors, two Harvard Medical School researchers who reviewed 150 scientific studies from 1966 to early 2002, concluded that people who take vitamins may protect themselves from certain chronic diseases. For example, they reported that inadequate levels of antioxidant vitamins A, C, and E may increase heart disease and cancer risk; low levels of folic acid and vitamins B6 and B12 are risk factors for heart disease, neural tube defects and colon and breast cancer; and that inadequate vitamin D intake contributes to osteoporosis and bone fractures. This may not sound like a real breakthrough in terms of exciting new ground broken, but in fact it is. There have been a few physicians that have endorsed specific supplements for specific people, but going beyond that to recommend that the entire population would benefit from a good quality multivitamin is big news. It is the first time in 29 years that JAMA has reviewed its stance on vitamin supplementation.