Although you can (and should) get most of the vitamins and minerals you need through food sources, the reality is that most of us don’t. Many of us end up taking a vitamin-mineral supplement to help make up the balance as a nutrition insurance policy. Most health professionals agree vitamin supplements are not a substitute for a healthy diet and lifestyle. In other words, a vitamin pill isn’t going to make a high-fat diet any lower in fat or a low-fiber diet any higher in fiber.
But lately we are seeing research popping up that is finding some health benefits to taking a multivitamin a day even for colon cancer risk reduction.
A new study from the researchers at Harvard Medical School suggests that folate (folic acid) supplementation is effective in preventing colon cancer. They found that the women who took a multivitamin containing a folate supplement for 15 or more years had a 75 percent reduced risk of colon cancer. Women who had been taking more than 400 mcg a day of folate showed a reduced risk of colon cancer, years later compared to those who took 200 mcg or less.
The findings were controlled for age, family history of colon cancer, aspirin use, smoking, body mass, physical activity, consumption of red meat, alcohol, the amino acid methionine, and fiber, as well as other components of multivitamins; vitamins A, C, D, E, and calcium. But only after 15 years of supplement use did the risk reduction become significant. This tells us that folate may help prevent the progression of these tumors in its early stages but probably does little to nothing for the more advanced tumors.
This means if a woman wants to have this benefit at the age of 50 to 60, when colon cancer risk kicks into high gear, she would have had to start taking the supplement 15 years sooner at age 35.
How might it help? Some researchers speculate that the antioxidant- like folate keeps cells in the colon wall from mutating and growing out of control. Folate is called a methyl donor. It gives up a piece of its chemical structure, methyl, in order to discourage wayward cell growth.
Folic acid is added to breads and grain products, but you’ll find it naturally in beans, dark green vegetables, and citrus fruits. Find out which plant foods are richest in folic acid. Take a look at the following list and circle the ones you like. You can make a point of choosing these power plant foods whenever possible.
Women who took in 66 IU of vitamin E a day (twice the recommended daily allowance) reduced their risk for colon cancer by 68 percent, compared to women who consumed the recommended amount of vitamin E. (These results are from a fiveyear study of 32,215 women presented at the 1993 annual conference of the American Society of Preventive Oncology.) The association between vitamin E and a reduced risk of colon cancer appears to taper off in women over age 65.
We know that vitamin E has a strong ability to protect cell membranes against destruction. Keeping cell membranes strong could be particularly important in the colon because the bacteria in the colon produce a lot of free radicals.
If you have reached menopause, you should choose from the low-iron multivitamin supplements out there. If you’ve stopped having your period prematurely (from a hysterectomy, for example), you should be taking the “silver” or “senior” type multivitamins because they tend to be the ones with the lowest amounts of iron.
Read the nutrition label for the supplement and make sure it provides close to 100 percent of the RDA for most of the vitamins and minerals. With that said, you’ll find that biotin isn’t usually present at this level because it is particularly expensive. Calcium and magnesium aren’t at the 100 percent mark because they are so bulky. If they were included, the pills would be too large to swallow. You don’t want to get too much more than 100 percent of the RDA for these vitamins and minerals.
Many can cause medical problems (or discomfort) in excessive doses. High doses can also negatively effect the benefits of others. Unless you have a specific reason for doing so, and know it’s safe, it’s best to avoid more than 100 percent of any vitamins and minerals (except perhaps vitamin E) in supplement form.
Takes no longer than 30 minutes to disintegrate In order for your body to be able to absorb and use the vitamins and minerals in your supplement, the pill must first dissolve while it is in your stomach or small intestine. If it takes longer than 30 minutes to dissolve, the tablet will probably pass through you and end up supplementing your sewer system instead.
All the supplements below meet the disintegration standards proposed by U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP), the scientific organization that establishes drug standards. Such supplements disintegrate completely within 30 to 45 minutes.
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01252010
1. Eat cabbage family vegetables several times a week
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