Vitamins Not Advised for Disease Prevention

We still don’t know whether vitamin or mineral pills can help to prevent heart disease or cancer, an expert report says. Vitamin E and beta-carotene pills definitely do not prevent these diseases. And beta-carotene can increase the risk of lung cancer in smokers and former smokers. Those are the main conclusions of the report from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. This is a government-appointed group of experts that advises doctors on preventive care. The panel looked at the best-quality research on vitamins, minerals and health. Some pills given in the studies contained single ingredients. Others included two, three or multiple vitamins. Taken together, the studies don’t provide enough evidence that these pills can prevent either heart disease or any type of cancer, the task force said.