Vitamin Facts

BALANCED DIET: Are multivitamins necessary?

Although multivitamins can easily supply needed nutrients, a recent report from the National Institutes of Health says not enough evidence exists to make a firm recommendation for or against the use of multivitamins for disease prevention, according to the April issue of Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource.

The best source of needed nutrients is a balanced diet.

Doctors continue to recommend multivitamins for people whose health conditions, dietary choices, lifestyle habits or medications impede their bodies’ ability to get or absorb proper amounts of key nutrients from foods. For example, people older than 60 are often encouraged to take a multivitamin because aging can make it more difficult for the body to absorb vitamins.

Doctors need to know the vitamins and supplements their patients take because some may not be recommended with certain health conditions. A doctor also can advise when supplements could provide health benefits based on the patient’s age, health and diet.

CANCER DEFENSE

GETTING CHECKUPS: If you’re 50 or older, seeing your doctor every year or two for a checkup may be a good defense against cancer, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California at Davis, the University of Washington, and Group Health Cooperative in Seattle.

The study, appearing in Archives of Internal Medicine, concluded that regular preventive health exams increase the likelihood that older adults will get recommended cancer screenings.

CPR FACTS

NO MOUTH-TO-MOUTH: Even people who have never been trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation know that it involves a series of chest compressions combined with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

For years, scientists have questioned whether the mouth-to-mouth part was necessary, saying the focus of CPR should be on chest compression, which keeps blood flowing to vital organs after cardiac arrest.

Last month, a study of more than 4,000 cases of cardiac arrest, the largest on the subject to date, found that patients were more likely to recover without brain damage if their rescuers had focused on chest compressions alone. Published in The Lancet, the study found that 22 percent of people who received chest compressions alone survived with good neurological function, compared with 10 percent who received combination CPR.

Those findings echoed those of a study in The New England Journal of Medicine in 2000.

ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO

MEMO: WORTH NOTING

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