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Letters-McCabe

by | Jan 1, 2012

Post Categories: Healthy Aging Practices | Nutrition and Lifestyle | Preventive Care for Children

In Defense of Nutrient Supplements

A 2011 paper published in Archives of Internal Medicine, “Dietary supplements and mortality rate in older women. The Iowa Women’s Health Study,” concluded: “In older women several commonly used dietary vitamin & mineral supplements may be associated with increased total mortality.”2 In Australia, this paper generated popular press and radio interview discussion. Some academics were ready to applaud it as a good study and ridicule supplement use. medical doctors proudly proclaimed that they did not take supplements. No balancing opinions were offered. No concerns were shown for the shattered confidence of millions of regular users of supplements and their anxious uncertainty. The aim of this study was “ to assess the relationship between supplements & total mortality rate in older women in The Iowa Women’s Health Study. “ The authors state: “Our hypothesis, based on a previous study by some of us was that the use of dietary supplements would not be associated with a reduced rate of total Mortality.”

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Patrick Glen McCabe

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