Are Vitamins a Waste of Money? (Pilot)

The Body of Evidence

What does the body of evidence say on the topic of vitamin supplements? We pilot a new format for the show and ask for your feedback! Let us know your thoughts on Facebook, Twitter, Patreon, or via email at [e-mail]

(6:34) The story of scurvy and how its cause, a vitamin deficiency, was harder to “science” than you may remember, with author Stephen R. Bown.

(22:48) The porous regulations that allow vitamin supplements to be sold and how Mel Gibson played a key role in this system, with health policy expert Timothy Caulfield.

(35:27) Chris and Jonathan explain what each vitamin does, what happens if you’re deficient, and whether or not vitamin supplements are necessary.

* Jingle by Joseph Hackl

* Vox pop by Thanos Michailopoulos

* Theme music: “Fall of the Ocean Queen“ by Joseph Hackl

* Assistant researcher: Nicholas Koziris

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References:

1) Chris’ article “It Hasn’t Been a Good Year for Vitamin D”: https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-it-hasnt-been-a-good-year-for-vitamin-d

2) Vitamin D supplementation and cardiovascular risk: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/fullarticle/2735646

3) VITAL study: https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa1809944

4) AMATERASU trial: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2019.2210

5) D2D study on vitamin D and type 2 diabetes: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31173679/

6) The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force’s Final Recommendation Statement from June 2022: https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/vitamin-supplementation-to-prevent-cvd-and-cancer-preventive-medication

7) Recommendation Statement as published in the Journal of the American Medical Association: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2793446

Music Credits:

Peter Sandberg / Étude No 1 for String Quartet

Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen / Rise to Power

National Anthem Worx / Rule Britannia

Silver Maple / Unspoken

Bonnie Grace / We Still Have Courage

Wendy Marcini / The Cast

Wendy Marcini / The Scam

Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen / The Stakeout

Farrell Wooten / Margin of Error

All courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com