Can Vitamin Supplements Prevent or Cure Acute and Chronic Conditions?

The health supplement industry earns billions of dollars annually. It's so popular that most grocery stores now have an aisle dedicated to health supplements. These supplements and vitamins may seem like a good idea, but do these products offer any substantial health benefit? The Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act of 1994 exempts such products from regulation by the Food and Drug Administration. They must, however, include a warning that the product is not regulated. Health professionals can report problems with products through MedWatch, a voluntary reporting program operated by the FDA (Jarvis, "A market for cures," 2006) . Although health supplements are a billion dollar industry, consumers need to know what they're really buying and whether it's worth their time.

Researchers at the University of Oxford decided to test the efficacy of vitamins C, E, and beta carotene over a period of five years. Subjects were given high doses of vitamins - 600mg of vitamin E, 250mg of vitamin C, and 20mg of beta carotene. According to their findings, there was no evidence that these vitamins were protecting consumers from cataracts, osteoporosis, cancer, heart problems, strokes and other potentially fatal disease ("Vitamin Pills 'Waste of Money' " 2002).