Do vitamin supplements do more harm to the elderly?

New study sees little need for vitamins, cites risksWhen older people have a difficult time eating a balanced diet because of ill-fitting dentures, early satiety, medical problems like gastric ulcers, elevated cholesterol levels, diabetes or being just plain picky, they or their caregivers often resort to vitamin supplements.

But a study in the October 10, 2011 issue of the “Archives of Internal Medicine” shows that supplements may be harmful to the elderly.

An Iowa Women's Health Study done on 38,772 women aged 55 to 69, conducted from 1986 to 2008, showed that the use of vitamin supplements had a 2.4 percent increased absolute risk for death.


Deadly vitamins?
The data also revealed that taking vitamin B6, folic acid, iron, magnesium and zinc produced a 3 to 6 percent higher risk of death.

The presence of copper in the supplement increased the risk of mortality even more, by as much as 18 percent compared to non-users.

Calcium was the only supplement that proved to be beneficial with an absolute risk reduction of 3.8 percent.

Dr. Jaakko Mursu of the Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition at the University of Eastern Finland said, "Although we cannot rule out benefits of supplements, such as improved quality of life, our study raises a concern regarding their long-term safety."


What the study didn’t say
But don't throw out your bottle of vitamins just yet.

The study did not report the health status of the women when they first joined the survey.

There was also no mention of medical problems or other drugs that the participants were taking during the period of enrollment.

In fact, the same group of subjects, the Iowa Women's Health Study, was used in a research published in 1999. It reported 387 deaths due to ischemic heart disease from 1986-1994.


Supplements aren’t cure-alls
Therefore, we cannot totally put the blame on supplement intake as the aggravating cause of death. The women could have other medical problems that directly caused their demise.

It is safe to say that supplements may still benefit patients as long as their other medical conditions are monitored and treated adequately by a physician.

Dr. Mursu's study merely warns us not to be complacent or over-dependent on supplements and think they are "cure-alls." A thorough physical examination and laboratory check is still necessary every year to ensure a long and healthy life.