LOS ANGELES, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- There was no enough evidence to show that Vitamin supplements benefit people's health, a report from the Los Angeles Times website said on Sunday.

    There's little science to support America's love for vitamins despite an ever-proliferating array of supplements on store shelves, said the report.

    Citing studies of multivitamins by experts with the National Institutes of Health, the report said that any evidence of the Vitamins' health benefit was thin, and clinical trials were too short to determine any long-term effects.

    "For years, dietitians have been saying, take a vitamin pill for insurance," Chris Rosenbloom, professor of nutrition in the college of health and human sciences at Georgia State University, was quoted as saying. "But people are eating so many fortified foods now, I'm not sure it's still necessary."

    Nearly 40 percent of Americans take supplements regularly, half of them taking a vitamin and mineral product, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    The industry of Vitamin supplements makes 1.3 billion to 1.7 billion dollars a year in the U.S.

    "Essentially, if you don't take multivitamins, there's no reason to start," says Dr. J. Michael McGinnis, senior scholar at the Institute of Medicine and chair of the NIH state-of-the-science panel on the role of multivitamins. "If you do, there's no evidence to stop."

    Dr. Charles Halsted, editor of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition added: "You're deluding yourself if you think you're preventing a heart attack or cancer with a multivitamin. It's a waste of money if you're perfectly healthy and have a proper diet."

    A study in July 2005 of almost 40,000 women found that vitamin E supplements did not prevent heart disease and stroke in most women -- though they might provide some protection after age 65. The study also threw cold water on hopes that E could ward off cancer.

    But most nutrition experts -- and probably primary care doctors--continue to say that taking a daily multivitamin pill is a sensible backup plan for the days people don't get all their fruits and vegetables, milk, cheese or yogurt, whole grain breads and cereals or meat, chicken, fish and legumes.