Weight Loss & Vitamins: Multivitamin Supplement Could Help You Lose Weight

Earlier this month, US researchers for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle announced the results of a study involving nearly 15,000 subjects with an average age of 55. After following the subjects' medical histories, diets and supplement intakes for about ten years, the Hutchinson team found four supplements that were associated with weight loss among subjects who were overweight or obese at the outset of the study.

The diet-friendly supplements: multivitamins, chromium, and vitamins B-6 and B-12.

When I read this list, I couldn't help but notice that the latter three items are often found in high quality multivitamins. So, many people who already take a good multivitamin may be getting unexpected assistance in their weight loss efforts.

But that's certainly not all they're getting. In recent months, research has produced evidence that multivitamins enhance general good health while providing protection from a common type of cancer.

Going long
Multivitamin use over long periods has been associated with a decreased risk of colorectal cancer in previous research. So researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) designed a study to further investigate this relationship.

In 1992, ACS researchers enrolled more than 145,000 men and women to participate in a five-year multivitamin study. All of these subjects had also participated in the Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Cohort (begun a decade earlier) in which their multivitamin usage was recorded.

As reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology, 797 cases of colorectal cancer were reported among the study group between 1992 and 1997. After adjusting for risk factors, researchers found that multivitamin use that began just prior to the 1992 enrolment was not associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer. But the participants who had reported regular multivitamin use (4 or more times per week) in the early 80s, fared much better: their group had a 30 percent reduced risk of the cancer.

The researchers say that further studies are necessary to establish clear evidence that long-term multivitamin use is associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer. Also unknown is just how the nutrients in multivitamins combine to offer protection. I'm sure we'll see more research in this area in the future, so I'll be keeping an eye out for those results.

Supplement checklist
Clearly, it makes sense to take a good multivitamin every day. It's inexpensive, it can't do any harm, and the evidence is mounting that long-term multivitamin use may provide a host of positive health benefits.

This isn't news to HSI members, of course. But for those of you who may have missed some of the many vitamin tips from HSI Panellist Dr Allan Spreen, I've collected a few of the most important ones to help you choose the most effective multi.

• Avoid a multivitamin that's a hard pill. Dr Spreen says, 'There are a few (read that a FEW) pill forms that break down quickly, but they are rare. I always use capsule, powder or liquid forms whenever possible, as they at least guarantee that the individual gets what he swallows.'
• Avoid time-release vitamins. Dr Spreen: 'I don't use time-release forms, as you're then using a preparation deliberately designed not to give its contents to you. I prefer to have the individual be his own 'time-releaser' by multiple dosing throughout the day.'
• Vitamins are absorbed more efficiently when taken with meals. Dr Spreen: 'They are better digested that way (they're food supplements).'
• Avoid getting too much iron. Dr Spreen: 'Concerning multi- vitamin/mineral preparations there can be one problem, and that's iron. It's too high, in my opinion, for most everyone as it is a known generator of free radicals in biological systems (if it's inorganic iron as most are in supplements).'