Take your vitamins? Or not?

[Celebration]

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/columnists/take-your-vitamins-or-not-132426238.html

House says rather than panic about each seemingly negative finding, consumers need to look past the headlines and put each nutrition study into context. That often means examining the facts of each one closely, even reading the actual journal article itself.

The women's vitamin study, for example, was large scale, but only looked at women over 60. Right away, there's a concern, says House. As well, the study was observational and relied on self-reported data, which, obviously, isn't always reliable.

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Most reports didn't mention that the women's vitamin study found that vitamin D and calcium each appeared to have increased life expectancy.

Also skewing the results could be what House calls the 'sick user effect.'

"Basically, it's when people get a diagnosis of something and then they start taking vitamins," he says. "In all likelihood they are the ones who are probably going to die sooner because they have been diagnosed with a disease.

[dtexdem]

1. You take your vitamins and I'll take mine -- in whatever form, including food.

Whether well or sick, it's generally better to forget the "vitamin" tablets and just eat nutritionally balanced meals. The exception would be when a health professional suggests or prescribes a vitamin supplement for a specific deficiency.