Vitamin C Rejuvenates Aging Ovaries in Primates

What about aging testicles? 😊

Vitamin C Rejuvenates Aging Ovaries in Primates | The Scientist "A long-term primate study suggests vitamin C may slow ovarian aging by reactivating antioxidant defenses—though fertility effects remain untested."

Daily multivitamin supplements don't help you live longer, but shorter, study shows. Really!

What a disappointment! All that money wasted on multivitamins! (Caution: satire)

Is it just a money making business?

The study was only over 20 years! What about the following years?

I believe, the question about the benefits and disadvantages of multivitamin supplements has been researched now for several decades! How many more studies will be undertaken on the subject of nutritional supplements?

The study may have been prejudiced/biased by the belief in "Micronutrients come most healthfully from food sources".

Is not the more relevant question whether these supplements help to live healthier?

From the abstract (a very long one):

"With as many as 1 in 3 US adults using multivitamin supplements, the question as to whether these supplements reduce mortality is an important public health issue. Drawing on 3 large cohorts including 390 124 participants and more than 20 years of follow-up data, the study by Loftfield and colleagues investigated the association between multivitamin use and mortality, while carefully controlling for potential confounders. Confirming the mostly negative results of prior studies, multivitamin supplementation was not associated with a mortality benefit. On the contrary, mortality risk was 4% higher among multivitamin users, compared with nonusers, in the initial years of follow-up (multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.02-1.07).1

Observations supporting the essential roles of micronutrients began centuries ago. Sailors were cured of scurvy with lime juice, which turned out to be a source of vitamin C. Beri-beri was shown to be preventable by the use of whole-grain rice, which contained a compound, now known to be thiamine, that was lost when brown rice was milled to white rice. In 1912, based on research on B vitamins, Polish biochemist Casimir Funk condensed the term vital amines to vitamines. While these essential nutrients were in foods, multivitamin supplements soon began to be offered for sale as delivery vehicles for micronutrients. ...

Not captured in mortality data, however, are potential benefits that do not affect longevity in cohorts of older adults. Supplementation with beta carotene, vitamins C and E, and zinc is associated with slowing the progression of age-related macular degeneration. In older individuals, multivitamin supplementation is associated with improved memory and slowed cognitive decline. Multivitamins may help offset deficiencies following bariatric surgery. Commercial products including vitamins B12 and D are a convenient source of nutrients for which many people come up short. Folate supplementation in pregnancy prevents neural tube defects in infants.

Mortality analyses also miss important risks. Although food sources of beta carotene are associated with reduced cancer risk, supplemental beta carotene was found in 2 large, randomized clinical trials in at-risk individuals (smokers and asbestos workers) to increase risk of lung cancer. Multivitamins containing vitamin K may reduce the efficacy of warfarin. The inclusion of iron in a supplement, while below the tolerable upper level, adds to that consumed in foods, increasing the risk of iron overload, which is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and dementia. Similar concerns may apply to copper supplementation. Calcium and zinc may reduce the absorption of certain antibiotics. Vitamin E in pills does not reflect the full range of tocopherols and tocotrienols found in foods. These findings make a case for obtaining vitamins from food sources, rather than supplements, to the extent possible.

Refocusing nutrition interventions on food, rather than supplements, may provide the mortality benefits that multivitamins cannot deliver. Vegetables, fruits, legumes, and cereal grains are staples in areas of remarkable longevity, known as Blue Zones—Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica; the island of Ikaria, Greece; and Loma Linda, California. In the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study, increased intake of vegetables and fruits was associated with reduced mortality, with maximum benefit observed for intakes at 5 fruit or vegetable servings per day, while substitution of plant protein in place of animal protein was also associated with reduced mortality. A healthful dietary pattern delivers micronutrients while also providing healthful macronutrients and fiber and limiting consumption of saturated fat and cholesterol.

Considerable evidence now shows that, apart from the aforementioned roles for vitamin supplementation, there is little health rationale for the use of multivitamin supplements. Micronutrients come most healthfully from food sources. When supplementation is required, it can often be limited to the micronutrients in question."

Daily multivitamin supplements don't help you live longer, study shows - ABC News The study analyzed data from nearly 400,000 healthy adults over 20 years.

The Limited Value of Multivitamin Supplements (open access)

Credits: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: Global Health NOW

Your memory might benefit from a daily multivitamin pill as you age

As someone, who has been taking almost daily multivitamins/-minerals for several decades I must concede my memory is still not good enough! (Caution: irony) 😊

Apparently, it makes even sense and has benefits to start taking daily doses at high age! So pop it! 😊

"Researchers ... reported last month that a randomized trial of the humble multivitamin found surprisingly potent effects on memory as we age. The COSMOS-Web Study showed that, among 3,500 subjects 60 and older, a daily multivitamin led to 3.1 years less cognitive aging than for those assigned a placebo. The clinical study was the second cognition trial in COSMOS to suggest that multivitamins can slow memory loss. ...

We saw better performance on memory tests among the participants randomized to multivitamins compared to those assigned to placebo. The benefit was apparent at one year and was sustained over the three years of the trial. Although an initial improvement in memory was seen, possibly due to replenishing of micronutrients in those with deficiencies, the longer-term effect was slowing of age-related memory loss and cognitive aging. ..."

From the abstract:

"Background

Maintenance of cognitive abilities is of critical importance to older adults, yet few effective strategies to slow cognitive decline currently exist. Multivitamin supplementation is used to promote general health; it is unclear whether it favorably affects cognition in older age.

Objectives

To examine the effect of daily multivitamin/multimineral supplementation on memory in older adults.

Methods

The COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study Web (COSMOS-Web) ancillary study (NCT04582617) included 3562 older adults. Participants were randomly assigned to a daily multivitamin supplement (Centrum Silver) or placebo and evaluated annually with an Internet-based battery of neuropsychological tests for 3 y. The prespecified primary outcome measure was change in episodic memory, operationally defined as immediate recall performance on the ModRey test, after 1 y of intervention. Secondary outcome measures included changes in episodic memory over 3 y of follow-up and changes in performance on neuropsychological tasks of novel object recognition and executive function over 3 y.

Results

Compared with placebo, participants randomly assigned to multivitamin supplementation had significantly better ModRey immediate recall at 1 y, the primary endpoint (t(5889) = 2.25, P = 0.025), as well as across the 3 y of follow-up on average (t(5889) = 2.54, P = 0.011). Multivitamin supplementation had no significant effects on secondary outcomes. Based on cross-sectional analysis of the association between age and performance on the ModRey, we estimated that the effect of the multivitamin intervention improved memory performance above placebo by the equivalent of 3.1 y of age-related memory change.

Conclusions

Daily multivitamin supplementation, compared with placebo, improves memory in older adults. Multivitamin supplementation holds promise as a safe and accessible approach to maintaining cognitive health in older age. ..."

Your memory might benefit from a multivitamin – Harvard Gazette Researcher details ‘remarkable’ findings, but with a caveat: Healthy lifestyle needs to come first

Multivitamin Supplementation Improves Memory in Older Adults: A Randomized Clinical Trial (no public access)

The wonderful world of vitamin B12

Very recommendable!

Why vegans need vitamin B12

Very recommendable!

Vitamin D Deficiency Drives Opioid Addiction in Mice

Good news! Recommendable, long article in The Scientist, providing lots of details on the research! This seems to be still early and preliminary research!

More exposure to sunshine and some vitamin D supplement! Beware, too much sunshine exposure can possibly cause opioid addiction like symptoms!

Now, I, living in Arizona for several years and taking vitamin & mineral supplements almost every day for a long time, understand better why I am not prone to opioid addiction (just kidding)!

"... When exposed to UV radiation, keratinocyte and melanocyte cells in the outermost layer of skin upregulate a gene called POMC that produces a protein that is then further cleaved into a number of peptides, including hormones involved in producing melanin pigment. ... then found that POMC also promotes the production of endorphins, feel-good hormones that are chemically related to opioids ... activating the same receptors in the brain. Follow-up work ... found that chronic UV exposure caused mice to display behavior consistent with opioid addiction.  ...
hypothesized that UV radiation, vitamin D, and opioids might actually be linked through a shared reward pathway in the brain ..."

"... We used multiple pharmacologic approaches and genetic mouse models and found that deficiencies in VitD signaling amplify exogenous opioid responses that are normalized upon restoration of VitD signaling. Similarly, physiologic endogenous opioid analgesia and reward responses triggered by ultraviolet (UV) radiation are repressed by VitD signaling, suggesting that a feedback loop exists whereby VitD deficiency produces increased UV/endorphin-seeking behavior until VitD levels are restored by cutaneous VitD synthesis. This feedback may carry the evolutionary advantage of maximizing VitD synthesis. However, unlike UV exposure, exogenous opioid use is not followed by VitD synthesis (and its opioid suppressive effects), contributing to maladaptive addictive behavior."

Vitamin D Deficiency Drives Opioid Addiction in Mice | The Scientist Magazine® Mice with low vitamin D had exaggerated craving for opioids and felt the drugs’ effects more strongly—results supported in part by human medical records—suggesting that supplements should be explored as treatments for opioid use disorders.

Here is the link to the underlying research article:

Vitamin D deficiency exacerbates UV/endorphin and opioid addiction (open access)