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News--
Vitamins May Not Protect Elderly from Infections
Apr 01, 2005
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -
The value of multivitamins and
mineral supplements in preventing infections in the elderly is
still not clear, according to a new review of study data. Not
enough evidence currently exists to recommend the routine use
of vitamin supplements in the elderly, the report's authors
say.
Therefore, more studies are needed "before routine use can
be recommended," say Dr. Alia El-Kadiki, from Royal Hallamshire
Hospital in Sheffield and Dr. Alexander J. Sutton from the
University of Leicester in the UK.
As reported in the online issue of the British Medical
Journal, the researchers evaluated eight studies that looked at
the effects of multivitamin use on infection outcomes in
approximately 1,250 elderly subjects. Due to inconsistencies
among the trials in the outcomes reported, only a proportion of
the studies were included in each particular analysis.
In three studies, routine multivitamin use cut the annual
number of days spent with infection by 18, the investigators
note. However, in an analysis of three other studies,
multivitamin use had virtually no effect on the risk of
infection and, if anything, increased it. Similarly, data from
four studies showed that multivitamin use did not significantly
influence the infection rate.
Despite the limitations of the analysis, the authors
believe that the findings are "sufficiently encouraging" to
justify further studies investigating the anti-infection
effects of multivitamin use.
SOURCE: British Medical Journal, March 31, 2005.
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