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Recent Events in the News
Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) publishes article that recommends supplementation with a multivitamin.
While it is probably safe to say that 100% of the readers of this publication understand the importance of supplementing the diet with additional nutrients in the form of a multivitamin, the traditional medical community has been very slow at realizing the need for and making the recommendation to take a multivitamin. It has generally been the position of the traditional medical community that supplemental vitamins are unnecessary and that we can obtain all the nutrients we need from a healthful diet. While we have never agreed with such a position, it has taken quite some time for others to begin to see the credence of our position. In the June 19, 2002 issue of JAMA, Drs. Fletcher and Fairfield make the case for multivitamin supplementation in the general public. These authors note that, "the high prevalence of suboptimal vitamin levels implies that the usual US diet provides an insufficient amount of these vitamins." This realization is a large departure from the "party line." The authors go as far as recommending, "...that all adults take one multivitamin daily. This practice is justified mainly by the known and suspected benefits of supplemental folate and vitamins B12, B6, and D in preventing cardiovascular disease, cancer, and osteoporosis and because multivitamins at that dose are safe and inexpensive." Unfortunately, these authors stop at recommending only one multivitamin a day and fall short of realizing the benefits of higher dose supplementation. Hopefully the traditional medical community will continue to recognize the benefits of nutrition beyond what can be obtained in a healthful diet. |