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Harvard reports possible link between multivitamins and cancer risk

Posted on Mar 18th 2008 11:34AM by Chris Sparling

Filed Under: HealthWatch, Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness, Celebs & Entertainment

I take a daily Centrum multivitamin. Chewable, because for some strange reason, I have trouble swallowing pills. But there's some new research out of Harvard that many people may find just as difficult to swallow.

According to an article in the March edition of the Harvard Men's Health Watch, people who take a multivitamin may be at a greater risk of developing prostate, breast, or colorectal cancers. Researchers posit that an overabundance of folic acid found in bread products, when combined with the amount found in a multivitamin, can leave people consuming an excess of 1,000 mcg or more of folic acid per day. This amount, say researchers, can increase cancer risk.

However, this report has received a great deal of backlash from the scientific community. The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), in response to the Harvard findings, released a statement saying that there was no reason to stop taking multivitamins.

Andrew Shao, CRN vice-president for regulatory and scientific affairs, said: "The issue raised on folic acid from a scientific standpoint is one that warrants follow-up, but it is not something isolated to multivitamins. He further stated that "The majority of Americans don't eat well... and multivitamins are an important component to the diet."

What do you guys think about these findings from Harvard? Personally, I think I need to see more conclusive evidence showing a link between multivitamins and cancer risk before I'm convinced, but that's just me. How about you?

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Tags: breast cancer, BreastCancer, cancer, Chris Sparling, ChrisSparling, colorectal cancer, ColorectalCancer, harvard, multivitamin, prostate cancer, ProstateCancer

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

tyler 3-18-2008 @ 1:00PM

I think it's interesting that Shao says, "The majority of Americans don't eat well... and multivitamins are an important component to the diet." My first thoughts: Isn't healthy EATING the more important component to diet? And why does this study seem to hopelessly expect Americans to eat poorly? The better solution I think would be to publish more articles on nutrition, (more likely the cause of bad health in my opinion).

I take a daily multi, but i prefer to try and get the most of my nutrients through the foods i eat (grains, veggies, fruits, nuts, oils). But I'm sure that if I didn't eat as healthy as I do, I would have poor health, which regardless of a multi-vitamin would lead to- my poor health.

The over-intake of folic acid is interesting to learn and be aware of, but overall I think Americans need to eat better- rather than continue to eat fast and crappy food, and be disappointed when their easy-way-out pills fail in giving them proper nutrition.

typicalnewyorker 6-12-2008 @ 10:10AM

As a skeptic, I'm waiting for more evidence on both sides to weigh-in. Nutrition is a tricky topic: there are so many shades of the variables to consider. IMO poor diet and lack of exercise are more to blame for health problems in this country than multivitamin use. In another related statistic I've learned, 50% of ALL men will develop prostate problems later in life.