Tag: vitamins
US Preventive Services Task Force Recommends Against Multivitamins
An updated review of the evidence reinforces that routine vitamin use is mostly worthless.
Vitamins are not for vaping
Vaping vitamins is a bad idea.
The Natural Medicine Handbook
Dr. Walt Larimore has written a very mixed bag of a book, combining useful general advice about supplements and "natural medicine" with some questionable specifics about individual products.
“DNA-based” personalized nutrition advice: Not ready for prime time
There are countless vendors offering "personalized" nutrition recommendations, some based on DNA- or microbiome-testing. What does the evidence actually say?
Do dietary supplements affect the survival of cancer patients?
Do dietary supplements offer advantages or risks to breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy?
Juice Plus+: Good Marketing, Not Good Science
Juice Plus+ is a multilevel marketing company selling fruits and vegetables that they have reduced to a powder and put into capsules. It's clever marketing using deceptive advertising. There is no scientific evidence that it benefits health.
The FTC cracks down on iV Bars for false advertising claims about its “intravenous micronutrient therapy”
One of the most popular forms of quackery sold by alternative medicine practitioners such as naturopaths is intravenous vitamin therapy, sometimes also called "intravenous micronutrient therapy" (IVMT). Most are variants of a concoction known as "Myers cocktail," and there is no good evidence that IVMT is efficacious for any of the indications for which quacks use it. Last week, the FTC issued...
Routine Vitamin Supplementation Mostly Useless
A new meta-analysis shows no benefit from multivitamins or routine supplementation. These results should motivate users to take a fresh look at their supplementation.
Puritan’s Pride Vitamin Advisor Gives Questionable Advice
The Puritan’s Pride website has a Vitamin Advisor that claims to provide a personalized supplement plan, with expert recommendations chosen just for you. In my opinion it is deceptive, designed not to provide evidence-based personalized health advice, but to sell their products; and one can only wonder what kind of “experts” would support such ill-advised recommendations. Stephen Barrett and I have just...
Vitamins and Cancer Risk
Vitamins have been promoted as a general panacea, as well as a means of preventing cancer. In reality, high doses of vitamins may even cause cancer.