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Nature’s best in a pill?

Health quotient Mediterranean diet is low in calories

Diets that promote longevity and prevent cancer and heart disease are invariably rich in antioxidants. The French, Greeks and the Italians owe their long lives and relative immunity to the hazards of smoking to the Mediterranean Diet: fresh fruit and vegetables, olive oil, herbs, nuts, garlic, red wine, and fish. The Mediterranean Diet is also low in calories — the biggest independent dietary promoter of longevity. On the other side of the world, the octogenarians of Japan take a similar diet and green tea.

Beta-carotene, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, selenium and other antioxidants are probably the healthful molecules in such diets, and it was inevitable that scientists would try to condense them into a pill. So far, Mother Nature gives mixed results when compacted into a pill.

Fish oil supplements containing omega-3 fatty acids are an exception: these really do reduce atherogenesis and heart disease. The rest might as well be snake oil. Antioxidants and multivitamin pills are now a multi-billion dollar business, but there is little evidence of benefit to justify their general use. On the other hand, evidence suggests they can do more harm than good.

This year, researchers collated the results of dozens of trials involving antioxidants in over a quarter of a million subjects. They did a meta-analysis of the data on the most common constituents of antioxidant pills: beta-carotene, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and selenium. The results showed that these compounds did not increase lifespan. In fact, regular use of such pills increases mortality.

Where does this leave the habitual multivitamin taker? If you are taking a multivitamin to guard against a specific condition like heart disease or cancer, you are just wasting your money.

The American Heart Association supports the use of an antioxidant-rich natural diet but scoffs at pills and supplements (except omega-3 fatty acids). Supplements may be necessary in chronic illness and certain nutritional diseases, but not in the average cold or fever.

There are many who take a pill to make up for a nutrient-poor diet or irregular food intake. Our understanding of these nutrients is imperfect, but we know enough to say this approach is costly and futile. Nutrients work best in their natural environment. A fruit owes its healthfulness to more than just antioxidants. A pill cannot replicate this complex nutrient powerhouse, nor will it make up for skipping meals or eating burgers. Nothing matches the benefits of a lifetime of wholesome nutrition.

RAJIV. M

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