One of my clients was recently quite shocked to hear that I don't take a multivitamin. I do take probiotics and vitamin D on a daily basis, but have never gotten into the habit of taking a multivitamin. I'm not a nutritionist and thus am not going to make any recommendations. But as luck would have it, the Wall Street Journal published a debate in it's April 12th Big Issues edition between Dr. Meir Stampfer, a professor at Harvard Medical School and Dr. Eliseo Guallar, a professor at Johns Hopkins University. We'll skip the long and short of their debate and get right to the short version.
Dr. Stampfer sees multivitamins as low-cost nutritional insurance. He believes that multivitamins are no substitute for a healthy diet and rank much lower in importance than not smoking, getting adequate exercise and maintaining a healthy weight. But he also believes they can be a small part of an overall healthy lifestyle. Dr. Stampfer does site the Physicians Health Study II which found an 8% reduction in cancer risk for multivitamin takers.
Dr. Guallar on the other hand worries that individuals may see taking a multivitamin as an easy fix for a poor diet that could encourage a false confidence. He also sites the lower cancer risk of the Physicians Health Study II, but sites a second study showing that unhealthy dietary habits caused 300,000 deaths from heart disease, stroke and diabetes in 2012. Therefore, he would prefer to keep people focused on diets rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and fish, and all of the behaviors which help them avoid a wide range of preventable diseases.
As a cancer survivor, I like the idea of reducing my risk even if only slightly. So on my next trip to the grocery store, I think I'll tuck a bottle of multivitamins in among the fruits, veggies and legumes. I can stop at the store on my way home from the gym.
Comments