Vitamins Jaret, Peter (2006, Oct).

Vitamins

Jaret, Peter (2006, Oct). Vitamins: What to take, what to eat. Prevention, 58(10).

The author clarifies several controversies over the health benefits of nutritional supplements. A recent National Institutes of Health report revealed that multi-vitamin supplements may offer few health benefits. However, health care workers continue to advocate the use of vitamin and mineral supplements. Because it focused on a narrow population, did not examine the preventative benefits of nutritional supplements, and focused on only a few studies, the NIH panel study was flawed.

While whole food sources remain the optimal means of acquiring the recommended doses of vitamins and minerals, most Americans do not consume enough whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Therefore, vitamin and mineral supplements can make up for dietary insufficiency. Concentrating on calcium, folic acid, beta carotene, vitamin E, and selenium, the author outlines optimal doses and discusses possible adverse effects of taking nutritional supplements. Each of these vitamins and minerals offers potential health care benefits, largely in terms of the prevention of disease or of birth defects. Ideally, vitamins and minerals should be consumed via whole food sources but supplementation can make up insufficiencies, especially when taken under the supervision of a health care professional.

Analysis

The article is useful for the following reasons. First, because it is written for a general audience, it offers patients the opportunity to learn more about vitamin and mineral supplementation and how it may apply to them. Second, the information contained in the article is backed by scientific research, even if the material is broad and generalized. Third, the article reviews the role of several key dietary supplements: calcium, folic acid, beta carotene, Vitamin E and selenium. Patients already familiar with each of these vitamins or minerals will be pleased to read the brief reports detailing their benefits or drawbacks. Patients unfamiliar with any or all of them will learn much and have a valuable starting point for conducting their own research online or through their health care providers. Fourth, the author plays up the importance of deriving nutrition from whole foods and when possible or necessary offers dietary tips such as which vegetables contain the most beta carotene.

In spite of its value for a general audience, however, the article fails to provide sufficient scholarly research to help health care workers make clear informed decisions regarding their patient's nutritional care. Health care workers may be stymied by the conflicting information available on nutritional supplementation even after reading the article. Moreover, the article focuses on only five supplements and neglects to address a whole set of important vitamins and minerals that patients may either be lacking in their diets or simply curious about taking.