Excessive Multivitamins May Be Harmful

There is no proof that taking a multivitamin — especially in excess — ensures better health, and there may be a risk of some harm, a U.S. newsletter warned.

The Harvard Men’s Health Watch advised that a report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute this year concluded that there was an increased prostate cancer risk among men using multivitamins.

While further study could find no link between multivitamins use and risk of developing localized prostate cancer, they did find that men who take multivitamins more than once a day were 32 percent more likely to develop advanced prostate cancer and 98 percent more likely to die from the disease.

The newsletter pointed out this study — limited in scope and contradicting other studies showed no connection between prostate cancer and multivitamins — but it only points to the need for more studies and several are under way.

Harvard Men’s Health Watch suggests there is a growing body of evidence supplements can be counted on to ensure good health. However, a good diet and other lifestyle changes may help lower prostate cancer risk. They caution against excessive multivitamin use but see no harm from a daily supplement that sticks to the recommended daily amounts of the standard vitamins.