Should Women Be Taking Vitamins?

By Dr. Madelyn Fersntrom

You might have heard about a recent study reporting that women taking vitamin/mineral supplements died at slightly higher rates compared to women who did not rely on supplements. Can this be true? This study, and the surrounding media blitz, has caused a LOT of consumer confusion. I’d like to set the record straight!

Here’s the main finding: scientists following nearly 39,000 women (average age of 62) for 19 years compared supplement (multivitamins, iron, magnesium, zinc, folic acid) users with non-supplement users and their rates of death.
They found a slight increase in the absolute rate of death – 2.4% - with vitamin supplementation.

And this was not true for all supplements. Calcium supplementation appeared to reduce the risk of death.

First, this was only an association study – NOT cause and effect. It was an observation of what happened in a large group of people. This means that there was a connection – an association – between women who took vitamins and a higher rate of death. It does NOT mean that vitamin supplementation was the cause of death. This is a very big point to understand! Also, this was a study only of older, white women – and other factors might have contributed to this finding.

Most other studies do not find this result; many others find that moderate vitamin/mineral ingestion (ie, not exceeding 100% of recommended requirements) are health promoting.

So what should you do? Talk to a health professional (not the health food store!) before taking a daily regimen of supplements other than a single multi-vitamin/mineral product. And always talk to your doctor before taking a dietary supplement of any type if you take prescription medications.