STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Dietary supplementation was linked to both positive and negative effects on mortality, depending on the subject population studied, according to a Swedish longitudinal study published online, ahead of print, in the British Journal of Nutrition (2007 Sep 3;1-6).
Researchers from the Institute of Environmental Medicine at Karolinska Institutet examined the association between dietary supplement use and all-cause mortality, cancer mortality and cardiovascular (CVD) mortality in men. They used a population-based prospective cohort of 38,994 men from central Sweden, 45 to 79 years of age, with no cancer or CVD at baseline and who completed a self-administered food frequency questionnaire, including questions on dietary supplement use and life-style factors in 1997.
During average 7.7 years of follow-up, 3,403 deaths were reported, including 771 due to cancer and 930 due to CVD (during 5.9 years of follow-up). In multivariate adjusted models including all men, there was no association observed between use of any dietary supplement or of multivitamins, vitamin C, vitamin E or fish oil, specifically, and all-cause mortality, cancer or CVD mortality. Among current smokers, regular use of any supplement was associated with a statistically significant increased risk of cancer mortality, with a relative risk (RR) 1.46. Among men reporting an inadequate diet at baseline (assessed by Recommended Food Score), there was a statistically significant inverse association between use of any dietary supplement and CVD mortality; no associations were observed among men with adequate diets.
The researchers concluded the results did not exclude the use of dietary supplements as harmful for smokers; however, they confirmed the use of supplements among men with an insufficient diet might be beneficial in reducing CVD mortality.
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