Popping a multi-vitamin pill ‘to improve your health’ has no beneficial effects on the human body, says a study published in the US.
Popping a multi-vitamin pill ‘to improve your health’ has no beneficial effects on the human body, says a study published in the US. The study only reinforces the old theory that vitamins got from foods are adequate and ideal for a human being. Supplements are necessary only in exceptional circumstances like illness, medically diagnosed deficiencies and the like.
The study on vitamins use was conducted on 161,808 post-menopausal women over a period of eight years and was spread all over USA. The figures showed that vitamin supplements did nothing to protect them from diseases like cancer and heart problems. The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute in Seattle, which conducted the study, advised patients to get their nutrients from food.
The findings come as a blow to the pharmaceutical industry all over the world. Vitamins and minerals that ‘change life-style’ have been money-spinners for over half a century. A sustained campaign over decades by the pharma industry has led to a substantial number of people attributing miraculous powers for vitamin-cum-mineral tonics and to blindly believe that they can perform a wide array of miracles.
In India, the presence of a Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) means that essential drugs have a strict price control. However, vitamins and tonics are not covered by the DPCO. The medical profession is a part of this hard-sell and it is rare to find a doctor who does not write a vitamin with an antibiotic or for a patient complaining of ‘weakness’ — both of which are not the indications for the use of these medicines.
The further paradox in India is that there exists a vast majority of people who just don’t get enough to eat and hence suffer from malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies. This group is not able to afford expensive tonics and vitamins dished out by pharma industry, though in desperate need of them. The vitamins and tonics are, on the other hand, routinely consumed by jet setting members of the society who are well-fed and, as the latest findings show, do not need them at all!
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}