(Image source from: })

It has become very common to go for vitamin supplements for balancing the health, but we should focus on the required levels and necessity of those alternatives. The vitamin supplements are more dangerous than that their benefits, as per new research. The over-usage of these supplements may cause cancer and heart diseases.

The doctors prescribe the vitamin supplements to fill the deficiency and emergency requirement, but the artificial alternatives are doing harm than good. The pills like vitamin E tablets, beta-carotene and folic acid should be taken up to a fixed level or needed range, but going beyond will increase the risks of cancers.

Dr Tim Byers, associate director for prevention and control at the University of Colorado Cancer Centre, said: "We are not sure why this is happening but evidence shows that people who take more dietary supplements than needed tend to have a higher risk of developing cancer.

The researchers have tested the dietary supplements in animal models and found the results were good, and they moved on to humans and studied thousands of patients for 10 years who were consuming the supplements and placebos. They found that the substitutes were not at all beneficial for health, more over - some people actually got more cancer while on the vitamins.

For understanding the concept they said, “Folic acid supplements are taken by about 230,000 pregnant women in Britain each year as it can help prevent spina bifida and other birth defects affecting the brain and spine”, but the too much intake increased the chances of getting cancer by 56%.

Likewise, taking beta-carotene supplements more than the recommended dose increased the risk of developing lung cancer and heart disease by 20%.

They have said that eating healthy food can fine balance the vitamins in bodies, and using the vitamin supplements in appropriate levels can do good, but over usage leads to cancer and heart diseases.

-Kannamsai