On the surface, it makes all the sense in the world: Since fruits, vegetables, and fish contain loads of healthy nutrients, why not isolate those vitamins, put them in pills, and gobble them up? And wouldn’t more be better?
Then we could just skip the strawberries, spinach, and salmon, and let fistfuls of vitamin tablets provide a fortified shield of protection against cancer, heart disease, and other ailments, right?
“It’s a very plausible hypothesis,” said Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “However, when submitted to rigorous testing, it has not held up. … It’s an oversimplified view.”
Three times in recent weeks, scientists writing in medical journals have attacked the notion that heavy-duty helpings of vitamins can thwart life-threatening illnesses. In some cases, they argued, excessive supplementation may even be harmful.
The way to live a long, healthy life, the researchers insisted, is not to pop lots of pills, but to eat a balanced, healthy diet.