Vitamin Information Center

Adjusted Rates
Definition
Adjusted rates are summary measures of the rate of
morbidity or mortality in a population in which statistical
procedures have been applied to remove the effect of
differences in composition of the various populations.
There are two methods for the adjustment of rates: the
direct method and the indirect method. Direct and indirect
refer to the source of the rates.
Cross-References
 Standardized Rate

WOULDN’T it be wonderful if there were a range of magic pills we could take once a day to protect us from all manner of diseases?

One to ward off cancer, another to keep our cholesterol in check, and yet more to keep us mentally astute, with slim, well-toned bodies and glowing complexions.

We could drink beer, smoke tabs and eat burger and chips to our heart’s content and never have to worry because all the nasty side-effects would be cancelled out by a cocktail of dietary supplements.

You’d be forgiven for thinking many people already believe this to be possible, though admittedly to a lesser extent. But there’s surely no denying that millions of us are under the illusion that popping a few pills can cure a variety of ills.

I’m not talking about genuine, tried-and-tested medicines here . . . I’m referring to vitamin supplements.

An estimated 10m people in the UK regularly take vitamins, shoring up a whopping £350m-a- year industry. Goodness knows what the industry is worth worldwide. But if a new report is to be believed, they’re wasting their money.

In what is claimed to be the most in-depth study ever undertaken into the effects of supplements, a team of Danish scientists concluded that there’s no evidence that they are of any benefit to health.

Worse still, they say some — including Beta- carotene, vitamin A and vitamin E — actually endanger life and could “significantly increase mortality”.

Whenever I read stories like this I feel like I’ve wandered onto the set of the old Woody Allen movie Sleeper.

Allen’s character, having been cryogenically frozen for hundreds of years, is brought back to life in the future where everyone smokes because scientists have discovered tobacco is the healthiest substance known to man.

Now we’re faced with a version of Allen’s movie in reverse . . . it seems everything we thought was good for us is bad for us. Either that or it makes no difference, in which case, it’s still bad for us financially. So how come so many of us have fallen for the hype? I suspect the answer is that people believe vitamins work because that’s what they want to believe . . .

And because the truth is as unpalatable to them as the fresh fruit and vegetables they have shunned in favour of supplements.

Unfortunately, however, there are no magic pills. And it’s high time we accepted that fact and stopped throwing money at an industry that has become adept at selling us an impossible dream.

A healthy diet and plenty of exercise is the only answer . . . that’s the hard-to-swallow truth scientists have been telling us for years.

VIVIENNE PARRY

“VITAMINS may shorten your life” was the most unexpected headline of the week. It arose after the publication of a review of 67 studies involving nearly a quarter of a million people taking antioxidant vitamin supplements (such as A, E and C). Far from showing benefit, it indicated that some, such as vitamin A, seemed to increase mortality.

This is a long way from other stories that suggest the benefits of supplements. Confusing, isn’t it? The problem is that studying the real effect of vitamins is incredibly hard. Focusing on one nutrient in isolation has proved to be a fine way to explain specific symptoms of one disease, such as those typically caused by vitamin deficiency - vitamin C and scurvy, for instance. But it’s not that useful when trying to assess the impact of vitamins on chronic conditions or even on death rates.

This is partly because the way that supplements affect our health can be influenced by many factors, significantly our diet. Drinking tea, for example, can inhibit the uptake of iron from food. Other influences are genes, physical fitness, existing disease, income levels, whether we smoke or drink . . .

And when researchers try to keep track of all these variables, and what foods and supplements we take, there’s another problem: we’re very unreliable witnesses. We either get muddled about what we have or haven’t eaten, or we simply lie when confronted with a nice dietitian with a clipboard.

There’s yet another problem. Costly trials involving enormous numbers of people over long periods of time are required to demonstrate the long-term effect of vitamins. People’s diets and habits can change considerably over these periods, making the results less reliable.

Meanwhile, the waters are muddied by the booming supplements business, which is worth £330million a year in the UK alone, the financial health of which is dependent on persuading us that our health is in jeopardy without its wares. Ironically, those most likely to be seduced by the marketing hype are those with the least need for supplements: health- conscious middle-class types.

So what does this latest review mean for us? It certainly doesn’t mean that those of us taking multivitamins are going to suffer an early death - they were not covered in the review. For those of us who take supplements of individual antioxidants, the picture is still far from clear. What we can say is that if there are benefits in taking single antioxidant supplements, they are very small indeed.

Stopping them is unlikely to affect your health adversely and will have a positive effect on your bank balance.

Csaba P. Kovesdy, MD; Shahram Ahmadzadeh, MD; John E. Anderson, MD; Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh, MD
Arch Intern Med. 2008;168(4):397-403.

Background  Treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) with activated vitamin D analogues is associated with better survival in patients receiving dialysis. It is unclear whether such a benefit is present in patients with predialysis chronic kidney disease (CKD). Continue Reading…

European scientists have carried out an analysis and discovered that people who depend on vitamin tabs, in place of eating a balanced diet of fresh fruits and vegetables, are doing more harm than good.
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London (PTI): If you are banking on a vitamin supplement daily to make up for any deficiencies in your diet, you may be getting a whole lot more, or actually less, than you bargained for. Researchers in Europe have carried out a study and found that people who rely on vitamin pills, instead of eating a healthy diet of fresh fruits and vegetables, are doing more harm than good. Continue Reading…

An increasingly number of the world’s population is now eager and interested in looking after their health and in keeping tune with their well-being. It is important to note that this awareness is progressively contributing to the creation of several health supplements to benefit both the adults and the young ones. Dietary and vitamin supplements have constantly proven their worth to health conscious individuals.
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