BEIJING, Feb. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- A new finding, published in the February issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine, said taking multivitamins do not lower the risks of various cancers, nor do they prevent cardiovascular disease.

    "Consumers are bombarded with messages to use dietary supplements, from commercial broadcasts, from news media reports, even from their own health-care providers," explained Marian L. Neuhouser, the lead author and a nutritional epidemiologist with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

    But she stressed, for the postmenopausal women who want to lower their risks of cancer or heart disease through usage of multivitamins, "It's a wash. They don't do you harm, nor do they help, either...Buying more fruits and vegetables might be a better choice."

    Neuhouser and her colleagues analyzed data from 161,808 postmenopausal women who participated in the government-sponsored Women's Health Initiative observational study.

    The researchers followed the women for an average of about eight years during the 1990s to track the health effects of multivitamins. A total of 41.5 percent of them used multivitamins.

    Considering women's age, race, BMI, physical activity, alcohol use, smoking, and other factors, the the researchers found that the supplements had no effect on the risk for breast cancer, colorectal cancer, endometrial cancer, lung cancer, ovarian cancer, heart attack, stroke, blood clots or mortality.

    But the researchers pointed out there are exceptions that folic acid use in women of childbearing age can prevent neural tube defects in babies, and avoid beta carotene supplements if you're a smoker.

    "Multivitamins ... are not intended to be magic bullets that will assure the prevention of chronic diseases, like cancer..." Andrew Shao, vice president for scientific and regulatory affairs at the Council for Responsible Nutrition, said.

    (Source: Agencies)