Is Harvard’s Advice to Stop Using Multivitamins Really Good for Our Health?
Chris D. Meletis, ND (with permission from cpmedical.net, access pin: 587556)
Despite years of studies showing the benefits of multinutrient supplements and dietary nutrients, recently authors of a Harvard Men’s Health Watch article declared that individuals should stop taking multivitamins, claiming that they may be harmful to our health.1
The controversy that the Harvard authors stirred up revolves primarily around one nutrient found in multivitamins, specifically, folic acid. They based their claims primarily on one study published in JAMA that showed an increased incidence of precancerous colorectal polyps in 1,021 men and women given folic acid supplements.2 In the double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial conducted between July 1994 and October 2004, men and women with a recent history of colorectal adenomas were randomly assigned into two groups. One group of 516 subjects received 1 mg/day of folic acid while another group of 505 subjects received a placebo.
