Another day another report questioning the value of supplements; besides harming your pocketbook, some may hurt your health

Dr. Edgar R. Miller of Johns Hopkins University possibly summed it up best when he said, "We all wish that [dietary supplements] would work but they do not."

A comprehensive Danish study just released found that "vitamin E and other antioxidant supplements provided no health benefits and might even produce a small increase in the incidence of death." The study was a "a meta-analysis" which combines the results from many previously published trial. In this case it was 68 trials and nearly a quarter of a million patients.

The Danish meta-analysis concluded that the supplements were not associated with either an increased or decreased incidence of mortality. "Vitamin C showed no benefit or risk in either analysis, while selenium showed a trend toward increased risk."

Can 25% of the population of the United States and Europe (that being roughly the percentage of people taking one or more of the supplements of the study)? No, according to some of the vitamin makers and as well as some researchers in the field. They criticized the methodology of the analysis and the selection process for what trials were included and which ones weren't.

It is easy to see how people can get frustrated with the inability for science to provide a specific answer to a seemingly simple question. All we want to know is "yes or no, should we be taking dietary supplements such as antioxidants?"

Despite the fight going on over this question, the good news for people wanting to be healthy is that there is near-universal agreement of the importance of proper lifestyle choices including losing weight and quitting smoking. If you want to be healthy, there are clear, uncontroversial steps to follow--but unfortunately they won't be as easy as opening a pill bottle once a day.

Expect the debate over supplements to continue and no matter how it turns out the answer will be that they are to be used as an accompaniment to a healthy lifestyle and no in lieu of one.