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comment by b_b
b_b  ·  4113 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Scientists say vitamins and minerals are a "waste of money"

    I know a lot of people who believe vitamins are helping them. I hope they are.

I think we all do. But that fact that supplements don't work pharmacologically doesn't mean they don't so something for the person actually taking them. I'm not advocating for anyone to take a placebo on purpose, but we all do weird shit, have rituals, habits, and inexplicable tendencies that just make us feel better. I guess the difference is that when I go through my ritualistic routines, it's because I'm nuts, and not because I'm being marketed to do so by a for profit company. I think that is why us vitamin haters hate on them so much; they're a cynical play on people's insecurities by soulless companies.





lil  ·  4113 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    This follow-up study did find a statistically significant increase. Men who took 400 IU of vitamin E every day during the study were 17% more likely than men who didn’t take the supplement to develop prostate cancer during the 7 years they were monitored by researchers.
This is from the American Cancer Society. Crap, I'd better send that to the spousal unit now. I think he takes 400 IU of E.
b_b  ·  4113 days ago  ·  link  ·  

There was another large cohort study done in Finland, I believe, that showed that vitamin E correlated to earlier death in people already diagnosed with cancer.