In the spring of 2002, the Journal of the American Medical Association published the findings of a major scientific review on nearly 40 years of research surrounding the relationship between vitamin deficiencies and disease. The results of this comprehensive review prompted two Harvard researchers to recommend that all adults take a multivitamin each day in addition to eating a healthy diet.

Almost 80% of Americans do not consume the recommended five daily servings of fruits and vegetables that would provide sufficient amounts of key vitamins and minerals needed for a healthy diet. Recent evidence has shown that suboptimal levels of certain vitamins are risk factors for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and cancer. Evidence has also shown that the benefits associated with taking supplemental vitamins and minerals, typically found in a multivitamin, can reduce the risk of many diseases.

With regard to B vitamins and cardiovascular disease, the researchers of the review concluded: "Until results of trials provide more specific information on vitamin doses required to minimize homocysteine levels, recommending a daily multivitamin for most adults may be the most prudent approach."

On the issue of vitamin E and heart disease, they recognized that some clinical trials have failed to find a beneficial effect in people at high risk of heart disease or in patients with known coronary artery disease, but they suggest that vitamin E may yet prove useful in the primary prevention of heart disease in the general population when taken for extended periods of time.

In order to protect against having a baby with a neural tube defect, the authors suggest "supplementing all women who might become pregnant with folate" at a level of 800 micrograms per day. (The Food and Nutrition Board has recommended that women capable of pregnancy should get 400 mcg of folic acid per day from supplements or fully fortified cereals, in addition to the naturally-occurring folate in their regular diets.)

Researchers did conclude that some groups of people are more at risk of certain vitamin deficiencies than others, however, it is important for all adults to get adequate intakes of vitamins because of the tremendously important role they play in the body.

For more information on the review, go to The Journal of the American Medical Association, Volume 287, June 2002.