Vitamins & Supplements Archive

 Scientific evidence doesn’t support taking cranberry extract to prevent urinary tract infections.

Herbal supplements are sometimes advertised to improve a man’s sex life by increasing blood flow to the penis, but many are not proven effective for treating ED and may cause serious side effects.

Calcium supplementation was associated with three to seven times the risk for dementia among older women with cerebrovascular disease.

A healthy diet is the best way to make sure you're getting enough of this essential element.

 Image: mamadela /Thinkstock

Magnesium probably isn't a mineral that comes to mind when you think about heart health. But a recent report showing that magnesium supplements may modestly lower blood pressure may have left some people wondering if they should head to Whole Foods to buy a bottle of magnesium pills.

"That's what I'm worried about," says cardiologist Dr. Elliott Antman, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. The reason? There's far stronger evidence that consuming less sodium will help improve your blood pressure. "I don't want people to think they can stop paying attention to how much salt they're eating if they're taking a magnesium supplement," he says.

Although theoretically multivitamins and chocolate might reduce the risk of heart disease and some cancers, proof is lacking. A new randomized trial called COSMOS will test whether multivitamin pills and cocoa pills have health benefits.

There is no conclusive evidence that fish oil supplements reduce inflammation. Diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids are a better bet.

There is little scientific proof that multivitamins or special “senior” vitamin formulas helps you live longer, feel better, or avoid disease. Spending money on fresh fruits and vegetables is a wiser and healthier investment.

Various herbs and other supplements have been touted for their ability to improve cholesterol levels. Here's what the research shows — and doesn't show — about some of the best-known products.

Hawthorne. The leaves, berries, and flowers of this plant are used to make medicine that was traditionally used to treat cardiovascular diseases. It may lower cholesterol by increasing the excretion of bile and decreasing the body's production of cholesterol. Verdict: It may possibly help.

Supplements aren't held to the same standards as FDA-approved drugs. Evidence indicates that few are effective, many are useless, and others may be harmful.

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Dietary supplements—including herbs, vitamins, minerals, and other products—are a $37-billion industry in the United States, and 60% of women are taking them regularly. At the same time, mounting research is suggesting that supplements—even mainstays like calcium—may be harmful at high doses.

The use of supplements and other alternatives to standard treatments is centuries old, but Dr. David Eisenberg, adjunct associate professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, was the first to document the widespread use of alternative therapies in the United States. In a 1993 article in The New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Eisenberg and colleagues reported that more than a third of Americans were using unconventional therapies, largely for chronic conditions, and most were doing so without letting their clinicians know. That report covered acupuncture, spinal manipulation, massage, and yoga, but it also focused public attention on all unconventional treatments, including the growing use of herbal remedies and other dietary supplements. In 1998, the Office of Alternative Medicine in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was revamped as the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and charged with funding rigorous studies into the safety and effectiveness of alternative physical treatments as well as popular dietary supplements and herbs.