Health
A Vitamin a day may do more harm than good
By Sade Oguntola from Nigerian Tribune
February 13, 2007

A woman taking her pill
The body needs vitamins to function. In achieving this, Sade Oguntola reports that care must be taking when it comes to patronising artificial vitamin supplements

Talk to many people, you hear them expressing their belief in vitamin supplements being effective in making up for any deficiencies in one’s diet.

Vitamins are good, there is no doubting that. Be it in children, adults or the elderly, vitamin supplements are at times recommended by physicians. However, when buying these vitamins, care should be taken to choose appropriate ones; those that have been tested and tried and found to meet the stated claims on their labels or satisfy other quality standards.

Doing this will save a lot of people from doing themselves more harm than good as recent reports on many vitamin supplements find them with unexpected nutrient levels and contaminants.

Agency reports on 21 brands of multivitamins in the market in the United States and Canada that were tested by two independent laboratories found only just 10 that met the stated claims on their labels or satisfied other quality standards.

Most worrisome is that one product, the vitamin shopp multivitamins especially for women, was contaminated with lead. Dr. Tod Cooperman, Consumerlab.com president, said, “I was definitely shocked by the amount of lead in this women’s product: We have never seen that much lead in a multivitamin before”.

Other products contained, more or less the amount of a particular vitamin than listed on the label and some could easily pass through the body without being fully absorbed because they don’t dissolve in the correct amount of time. Some of the vitamins that didn’t break apart within the 30-minute standard set by the United States pharmacopeias include Nature’s Plus Especially Yours for Women that required more than an hour to disintegrate and AARP maturity formula that took 50 minutes.

In the new report, of the several popular multivitamins selected as well as some smaller brands, only a few of the most popular multivitamins prominent in the market passed the test.

These included Centrum silver, Member’s Mark, Complete Multi, One a day women’s and Fluitstones complete. Those that failed included:
• The vitamins Shoppe multivitamins especially for women was contaminated with lead.
• Hero nutritional Yummi Beers: Had twice the labeled amount of vitamin A.
• Nature’s Plus Especially Yours for Women took twice as long as allowed to disintegrate.
• AARP maturity formula: Took nearly twice as long as allowed to disintegrate.
• Enina VIBE: Had only 54 per cent of claimed Vitamin A.
• Pet-tabs complete Daily Vitamin-mineral supplements for Dogs contained lead.

Whether most people really need to take a multivitamin is a subject of debate. For instant, Dr. Victor Olaosebikan, a psychiatrist at Ring Road State Hospital, Ibadan, believes the best option to getting vitamins is to take natural food items rich in vitamins, declaring that many multivitamins you get to buy may contain heavy metals and so injurious to the body.

“I was buying them before, but I stopped. My wife now takes extra care to prepare my food in such a way that all these basic nutrients are retained. For example, many fruits and vegetables we have such as carrots, tomatoes and pepper are rich in carotene and can be taken,” he stated.

Prof. Oladapo Ladipo, President, Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH), Ibadan also believes that, if “you have a healthy nutritional intake, you don’t need additional multivitamins”.

According to him, vitamins are nutrients you need in small quantities and except when necessary you need not take it, adding, “if you don’t need it and you start to pop yourself with multivitamins, you are not only wasting money, but even this could have adverse consequences on the body”.

Some nursing mothers commenting on multivitamins, accept that they also give their kids for several reasons. While Mrs. Eniola Adesina, a businesswoman in Ibadan, buys multivitamins for her two and a half-year-old boy whenever he is ill, Mrs. Yemi Adeoti said she had to continually give her son vitamin B complex to boost his appetite for food. Though the likes of Papa Awolabu, a retired teacher, takes it to improve their health, a pharmacist, Mr. Adedayo Akala said much as he wouldn’t rule out its many benefits, that people should not make it a thing of compulsion.

With the level of stress some people have to take their bodies through and the fact that many people don’t have time to eat well, Mr. Akala said taking multivitamins is okay.

He was, however, worried by the fact that many Nigerians will only patronise the imported ones which he said could have been a substandard product made in Asia, but carrying a UK address.

“The problem is not that these multivitamin drugs are not good. Once there is an FDA approval, it is good for use. But they know Nigerians will buy just anything from UK and even if they are coming from Asian countries, but made to have a UK address,” he said.

Mr. Akala, however, warned that multivitamins that do not satisfy quality standard could be dangerous. “For example, any build up of Vitamin A could have terrible effects such as bone weakening and liver abnormalities.

Women with high levels of lead in their bodies who become pregnant could pass on problems to their unborn children. Lead contributes to high blood pressure.

Much as multivitamins might have to be taken by some people, one is safer choosing a well-known brand that is sold by some companies or stores with good reputation. This is no guarantee, but that is the best bet.

Vitamins and other dietary supplements basically do not undergo same test as other medicines so one needs to beware. Some steps to help pick a better product include:

• Choosing well– known mainstream brands by companies that have a lot at stake.
• Buying from large, trusted retailers.
• Looking on the bottle for a stamp from authorising bodies for drug regulation like FDA and NAFDAC. While the stamp doesn’t guarantee the product is safe and effective, it, however, indicates that the drug must have been submitted for testing at one point in time to show that it contains what is stated on the label.

If you take a multivitamin, choose the one that contains 100 per cent or less of the daily value for each ingredient. This reduces the risk of it reaching toxic levels.

According to the director of National Institution of Health Office of Dietary Supplements, many assume the ingredients in supplements are safe. But there are evidences to show that certain ingredients in multivitamin supplements can produce adverse effects.

Vitamin A is one concern. It helps preserve vision and boosts immunity, but a high dose can be toxic and have been linked to an increased risk of osteoporosis.

Other studies have found problems with beta carotene. When scientists gave beta carotene supplements to smokers, the risk of lung cancer increased.

Folate presents a new dilemma. This B vitamin provides heart benefits in adults. But too much folate can mask a type of anaemia (shortage of blood) in the elderly.

Multivitamins offer everyone, an “insurance policy”, but dieticians would tell you that it is better to get your nutrient needs from a well-balanced diet.