A widely anticipated study has concluded that neither vitamin D nor fish oil supplements prevent cancer or serious heart-related problems in healthy older people, according to research presented Saturday at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions.<\/p>\n
Researchers defined serious heart problems as the combined rate of heart attacks, stroke and heart-related deaths.<\/p>\n
Although hundreds of studies of these supplements have been published over the years, the new clinical trial \u2014 a federally funded project involving nearly 26,000 people \u2014 is the strongest and most definitive examination yet, said Dr. Clifford Rosen, a senior scientist at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute who was not involved in the research.<\/p>\n
Doctors have been keenly interested in learning the supplements\u2019 true value, given their tremendous popularity with patients.<\/p>\n
Twenty-six percent of Americans age 60 and older take vitamin D supplements, according to a 2017 study. Twenty-two percent take pills containing omega-3 fatty acids, a key ingredient in fish oil.<\/p>\n
The new study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, also suggests there\u2019s no reason for people to undergo routine blood tests for vitamin D, said Rosen, who co-wrote an accompanying editorial.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because the study found that patients\u2019 vitamin D levels made no difference in their risk of cancer or serious heart issues, Rosen said.<\/p>\n
Even people who began the study with clear vitamin D deficiency got no benefit from taking supplements of 2,000 international units a day, equal to one or two of the vitamin D pills typically sold in stores.<\/p>\n
Vitamin D testing has become a huge business for commercial labs \u2014 and an enormous expense for taxpayers. Doctors ordered more than 10 million vitamin D tests for Medicare patients in 2016 \u2014 an increase of 547 percent since 2007 \u2014 at a cost of $365 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s time to stop,\u201d vitamin D testing, Rosen said. \u201cThere\u2019s no justification.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. JoAnn Manson, the study\u2019s lead author, agrees that her results don\u2019t support screening healthy people for vitamin D deficiency.<\/p>\n
But she doesn\u2019t see her study as entirely negative.<\/p>\n
Manson notes that her team found no serious side effects from taking either fish oil or vitamin D supplements.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re already taking fish oil or vitamin D, our results would not provide a clear reason to stop,\u201d Manson said.<\/p>\n
Manson notes that a deeper look into the data suggested possible benefits.<\/p>\n
When researchers singled out heart attacks \u2014 rather than the rate of all serious heart problems combined \u2014 they saw that fish oil appeared to reduce heart attacks by 28 percent, Manson said.<\/p>\n
As for vitamin D, it appeared to reduce cancer deaths \u2014 although not cancer diagnoses \u2014 by 25 percent.<\/p>\n
But slicing the data into smaller segments \u2014 with fewer patients in each group \u2014 can produce unreliable results, said Dr. Barnett Kramer, director of the cancer prevention division at the National Cancer Institute.<\/p>\n
The apparent links between fish oil and heart attacks \u2014 and vitamin D and cancer death \u2014 could be due to chance, Kramer said.<\/p>\n
Experts agree that vitamin D is important for bone health. Researchers in these papers didn\u2019t report on its effect on bones in these papers. Instead, they looked at areas where vitamin D\u2019s benefits haven\u2019t been proved, such as cancer and heart disease.<\/p>\n
Preliminary studies have suggested vitamin D can prevent heart disease and cancer, but more rigorous studies have disputed those findings.<\/p>\n
Manson and her colleagues plan to publish data on the supplements\u2019 effects on other areas of health, including diabetes, memory and mental functioning, autoimmune disease, respiratory infections and depression, in coming months.<\/p>\n
Consumers who want to reduce their risk of cancer and heart disease can follow other proven strategies.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople should continue to focus on known factors to reduce cancer and heart disease: Eat right, exercise, don\u2019t smoke, control high blood pressure, take a statin if you are high risk,\u201d said Dr. Alex Krist, a professor of family medicine and population health at Virginia Commonwealth University.<\/p>\n
Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation that is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.<\/p>\n
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