Vitamin D, Omega 3 Pills Do Not Cut Risk of Cancer, Heart Disease

A new study debunks reports that vitamin D and Omega 3 supplements prevent cancer and heart disease.

Have you bought into the supplement craze? Do you religiously pop omega 3 pills and vitamin supplements? You are among the millions who have contributed to the growth of the supplement industry. An industry that has largely been propped by a few studies that claim popping Vitamin D will keep your cancer risk at bay and Omega 3 pills will keep you safe from heart disease, among other ills.

Now the largest study of it’s kind has debunked this.

The largest gold standard, and only such study of omega-3 fish oils ever carried out in healthy adults, and the largest trial ever done of high-dose vitamin D, claims supplements do not lower cancer rates or reduce cardiovascular risk. The study was published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

For years, doctors have advised patients to get tested for Vitamin D deficiency and take supplements.

As far as fish oil is concerned, all is not lost. While fish oil showed no reduction of risk of stroke in healthy adults, another analysis looking separately at heart attack found a 28 percent reduction among those taking fish oil, with a 40 percent reduction in people who eat little fish and a 77 percent reduction in African-Americans.

Almost 26,000 adults, 50 years and above, took part in the trial funded by National Institutes of Health.

Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to all kinds of disorders including diabetes, cancer, high BP, depression. In a tropical country like India specifically, vitamin D deficiency has lead to alarm bells being raised and vitamin D testing has become routine.