A study that we never heard about.

This is an email I received from a friend Dr. Steven Chaney, PhD. Interesting stuff. Points towards taking vitamins as a really good insurance policy.


This is the last of my emails in a series about clinical studies that I learned about from a recent seminar by Dr. Jeffrey Blumberg from Tufts University.

I call this one "The Study You Never Heard About".

The negative studies always seem to make the headlines, but somehow we don't seem to hear about the positive ones.

This study was called "The Vitamins and Lifestyle Study" (Pocobelli et al, American Journal of Epidemiology, 170: 472-483, 2009).

The study surveyed 77,719 residents of Washington State, aged 50 to 76, for supplement usage and lifestyle differences.

With respect to supplement usage the study participants were separated into those who took multivitamins at least 6-7 times/week, those who took at least 215 mg of vitamin E/day, those who took at least 322 mg of vitamin C/day and those who took no supplements at all.

The groups were further stratified so that there were no lifestyle differences between the supplement and non-supplement groups.

The study then compared the supplement and non- supplement groups with respect to both cardiovascular mortality and total mortality over a 10-year period.

The results were not surprising to those of us who have been closely following this kind of research.

The multivitamin users had a 16% reduction in risk of cardiovascular mortality compared to those who were not using any supplements at all.

The people who took at least 215 mg of vitamin E/day had a 28% decrease in cardiovascular mortality and an 11% decrease in total mortality compared to the non- supplement users.

And the people who took at least 322 mg of vitamin C/day had a 25% decrease in cardiovascular mortality and 9% decrease in total mortality compared to non- supplement users.

Although this study focused on single supplements rather than the multiple supplements, the results are fully consistent with the results of the Landmark study of Shaklee supplement users.

The Landmark study showed that long term supplement users were healthier. This study shows that long term supplement use decreases the risk of dying.

Together these studies show that long term supplement use leads to a longer AND healthier life.

You would think that something this simple that everyone could do to decrease their risk of disease and death would be big news.

But somehow this study never made it to your local newspaper or Internet news service.

Do you suppose that's because only bad news sells?