Vitamins – a more balanced view 23 April 2008
Since last week’s sensationalist headlines in the media regarding vitamins and how they could actually have an adverse affect on people’s health, some balanced and pragmatic views have begun to emerge.
Amongst those stressing the importance of vitamins for some groups is Doctor James LeFanu, who in The Daily Telegraph’s Health on Monday has wisely pointed out that there are many situations where supplements can actually be of great benefit and promote healing.
One of his prime examples is the elderly, many of whom are prone to fractures of the wrist due to incidents such as falling over on an outstretched hand, which can be complicated by prolonged swelling and immobility known as complex regional pain syndrome.
His account refers to a Dr P E Zollinger, an orthopaedic surgeon at the main hospital in The Hague, who reported how taking 500mg of vitamin C daily for 50 days after a fracture reduced the incidence of the syndrome five fold.
It is also worth pointing out that the negative results did not concern health supplements in general, but a couple of vitamin supplements in isolation. Not only this, the findings were not new and many of the vitamin supplements in question have demonstrated positive effects in other tests. For example, vitamin E has been linked to the longevity of Alzheimer’s patients in a recent study. Last week’s reports are therefore not overtly helpful and should be considered within a wider context.
