Dear Department of Health,
You really are a bunch of fools. It is astonishing how ill-informed you are about vitamin pills, and through your idiocy all the newspapers are now printing big front page stories about vitamin pills being potentially dangerous.
Apparently, this review of studies found that vitamin A supplements “increased the risk of death in healthy people by 16%, beta-carotene “was linked to a 7% increased risk [of death]” and ”vitamin E supplements increased the risk of an early death by 4%”. This sounds worrying, but the review was pointless. If you had bothered to read the original study (today’s story is in fact a rehash of a review from 2007 which you can download by following the link and clicking on PDF on the right hand menu) you will have found that the levels of vitamins you have to consume for them to become dangerous are astronomical. The level of supplements administered in these studies was as follows:
Beta carotene (RDA = 3 to 6mg) - studies ranged from 1.2 to 50.0 mg (about 800% of the RDA) with an average supplement of 17.8mg
Vitamin A (RDA = 2,600 International Units) - studies ranged from about 1,333 to 200,000 IU’s (about 770% of RDA) with an average of 20,219 IU’s
Vitamin C (RDA = 60mg) - studies ranged from 60 to 2,000mg (330% of RDA) with an average of 488mg
Vitamin E (RDA = 12 to 15 International Units) - studies ranged from 10 to 5,000 IU’s (3,700% of RDA) with an average of 569 IU’s
Selenium (RDA = 25μg) - studies ranged from 20 to 200μg (800% of RDA) with an average of 99μg
So, you see, if you have up to 37 times the recommended daily allowance of vitamins then yes, you’re probably going to be in trouble but for the vast majority of people (myself included) who have a daily vitamin pill with nothing more than 100% of the RDA for any vitamin or mineral, I feel pretty safe.
Please do your job properly in future.
A.Tory
8 responses so far ↓
Blue Eyes // April 16, 2008 at 9:04 am
My doctor flatmate is fond of telling me that vitamin pills are largely pointless because once you have a certain level in your system any more just get flushed out, particularly Vitamin C. The Thames has measurable quantities of Vitamin C in it from all those effervescent pills we drink…
Letters From A Tory // April 16, 2008 at 9:32 am
But surely if you have below the optimal level of vitamins in your system then the pills will help?…
Blue Eyes // April 16, 2008 at 9:38 am
Certainly, but you have to have a pretty shocking diet to get there. Supermodels and vegans are probably the only ones who can’t manage a varied enough diet.
anthonynorth // April 16, 2008 at 11:03 am
Food wise, I live by a simple philosophy - a little of everything.
Nothing beats a balanced diet. It is the only sensible way to eat.
asquith // April 16, 2008 at 1:04 pm
People should just eat a sensible diet. It’s no use eating complete shyte and making up for it with “vitamin pills”. How hard is it to, for example, drink fruit juice?
There was an article by your good friend George Monbiot in the Guardian yesterday which mentioned diet. I found it agreeable, but maybe you wouldn’t
Letters From A Tory // April 16, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Obviously that’s what we all SHOULD do but I think many people struggle to find the time and energy to eat a balanced diet, hence why vitamin pills once a day or every couple of days is not a bad move in my opinion.
asquith // April 16, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Yes, I agree with your point, vitamin pills are nothing to be afraid of. I think there’s a whole load of swill being talked by people who don’t even try to understand science, they just follow an ideology. One thinks of the MMR/autism business, and other scientifically illiterate nonsense from people like Mad Mel Phillips and clinically sane Peter Hitchens.
The basic problem is that a lot of arts/humanities graduates in journalism are scornful towards science and don’t even make the least attempt to think scientifically.
THE MAN // April 24, 2008 at 11:06 pm
asquith, you are a fool.
Mel Phillips is one of the few, sane, MSM writers about.
To take your view confirms your personal insanity.
Coming round to your, ermm, views on vitamins, and other supplements, you are obviously a moron there too.
Look at the date when these daily requirements were set, and consider the scientific knowledge of that time.
Consider our current knowledge on free radicals, and the scavenging potential of the vitamins you blithely say we don’t need, or we get can from a balanced diet. Can you even say how to construct your “balanced diet”?
Do you know the Vit C depreciation rate with heat, time, and light???
Do you know the molecular structural alterations that occur in Omega 3, 6, and 9s, at various temperature ranges?
Do you know the bio-availability of various forms of mineral salts?, and how some supposed beneficial minerals can be in fact harmful when provided as certain salts?
Do you know how to combine certain minerals and vitamins for synergistic effects.
Do you know about the additional requirements for varying occupations, ranging from sedentary through to athlete, and the effect on the endocrine system for varying supplement levels over varying occupations?
Do you know about the varying free radical production within the body over these varying activity levels?
Do you know of the differing mineral requirements of different athletic endeavours?
You say “there’s a whole load of swill being talked by people who don’t even try to understand science, they just follow an ideology”, and thats good.
Now why don’t you inform us all about your science?
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