With the flu spreading throughout the community, those who have mere colds should consider themselves lucky. Unfortunately, colds are also uncomfortable and leave us feeling ill. While coughing and sneezing, I’m sure you hear your mother’s voice urging you to “take your vitamins.” Multivitamins and dietary supplements are meant to prevent nutritional deficiencies and to promote health. Vitamins are famous for fighting off the common cold. However, vitamins have shown to have even more benefits than just that. Epidemiological data has shown that supplementation of B vitamins, ascorbic acid, folic acid, carotenoids, and tocopherols are associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. On the other hand, according to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, “for the general healthy population, there is no evidence to support a recommendation for the use of multivitamin/mineral supplements in the primary prevention of chronic disease.” Despite the lack of evidence of benefits of dietary supplements with reducing risk of chronic diseases and cancer, nearly half of the U.S. population continues to take supplements in the hopes of seeing benefits. Therefore, it is important to study the actual benefits of dietary supplements and determine if they are required to be taken daily.
A number of studies have been performed to test the effects of vitamins on the public’s health. The results are a mixed bag. According to some, it seems that dietary supplements are not beneficial, and even more so, some are harmful. One study showed that multivitamins reduce the risk of cancer in men, while another demonstrated that selenium supplementation is beneficial in preventing cancer. On the other hand, other studies found that dietary supplements increase the risk of cancer. In a Swedish study of 35,000 women done over 10 years, the use of multivitamins showed a 19% increased risk of breast cancer. In the Cancer Prevention Study II, more than one million adults were studied and results showed that multivitamin use had no correlation to cancer mortality. Likewise, the Women’s Health Initiative detected no association between multivitamins and the risk of cancers after studying 160,000 women for eight years.
Can vitamins help prevent cancer? Do they cause cancer? It’s hard to say. “Multivitamins have a lot of confusion surrounding them,” said Kelly Devine Rickert, a Franciscan Wellcare registered dietitian and health coach. “Often people think, ‘The more vitamins and minerals I consume, the healthier I will become,’ and that is just not true.” Despite this, according to the American Dietetic Association, about one third of adults take a multivitamin and mineral supplement regularly.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against all vitamins. Vitamin and mineral supplementation is especially helpful for pregnant and breastfeeding women, those with certain medical conditions, and children who are picky eaters. For those who don’t eat enough vegetables, discuss with your doctor about possibly taking a multivitamin.
For those who don’t fall into that category, my advice is to stick to food. If you eat proper amounts of fruits and vegetables daily, you can get adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals without supplementation. During these winter months, eat plenty of oranges, peppers, guava, green leafy vegetables, kiwi, berries, citrus fruits, tomatoes, peas, and papaya, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, butter lettuce, and kale. These fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamin C and can help fight off the common cold and the flu.
Another vital vitamin, especially during the winter, is vitamin D. Vitamin D is found in high concentrations in oily fish, fortified cereals, mushrooms, dairy products, eggs and cod liver oil. Vitamin D works hand-in-hand with calcium. Calcium depends on vitamin D for proper absorption. The combination of calcium and vitamin D help build strong bones and prevent osteoporosis. Strong bones are extremely important during the winter months when unfortunate slips and falls are very common due to the icy and slippery streets, which can result in broken bones. Adequate stores of calcium and vitamin D can help prevent those frightening bone fractures. Calcium is found in dairy products such as milk, cheese, yogurt, spinach, kale, okra, and fortified foods. Other essential nutrients include antioxidants and polypehonols. Vitamin E and selenium are specific antioxidants that help protect the immune system. Sources of these antioxidants include milk, green leafy vegetables, carrots, tomatoes, oranges, meat, fish, and cereals. Other antioxidants can be found in berries, sweet potatoes, green leafy vegetables, pomegranates, walnuts, and wine.
When eating the right foods, vitamins and minerals can be found in abundance. It might not be necessary to load up on supplements, especially vitamin C. Don’t tell Mom, but it’s OK to skip the vitamin C pill. Just eat plenty of fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin C as mentioned above to fight off that nasty cold.
Cindy Weinberger MS, RD, CDN, is a Master’s level Registered Dietitian and Certified Dietitian-Nutritionist. She graduated CUNY Brooklyn College in 2013 receiving a Bachelor’s in Science and Master’s degree in Nutrition and Food Sciences. She is currently a dietitian at Boro Park Center and a private nutrition consultant. She can be reached at [email protected].
