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.
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