It was just a few months ago that Angelina Jolie gave birth to twins making a grand total of six children in this mother’s nest. However, the obviously maternal Hollywood star is already aiming for baby number seven and is doing everything possible to prepare her body for yet another pregnancy. Being that she and husband Brad Pitt appear to want a super-sized family, it’s no surprise that Angelina has reportedly been paying visits to her obstetrician in Los Angeles.

Most obstetricians claim that it is best to wait a year after delivery before having another baby, especially once a woman is in her 30s and 40s, but this advice has not stopped Angelina. A close source claims that Angelina has started a strict fertility diet where she is taking pre-natal vitamins and has cut all junk food out of her diet. In addition, she has limited both refined carbohydrates such as white bread and pasta and caffeine. She has also increased her consumption of iron, the omega-three fatty acids and of course fruit and vegetables.

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Hillary Swank downs a reported 45 supplements a day! She’s quoted as saying:

“This is my Aloe C, which I dissolve in water. Here’s my flax. This one’s for my immune system, and this one is my BrainWave – it’s great, like if I have a lot of lines to memorise. I just took my most important ones, which are my Oz Garcia Longevity Pak. I shoved them in my mouth right before I met you, which I actually shouldn’t do, because I choked on my vitamins once before.”

So are vitamins and supplements really the fountain of youth?

Unfortunately the data on supplements has been dissappointing.  Consider these studies:

High Dose Beta Carotene and Vitamin A supplementation in smokers: This study found that smokers who took beta carotene and Vitamin A supplements had an increased risk of lung cancer by 28% over those who did not take supplements! Additionally the death rates increased by 46% for cancer and by 26% for cardiovascular disease. The results were so compelling the study was stopped 21 months early for ethical reasons.

Vitamin E - Hope Trial - double blind, placebo controlled study involving 9541 patients with cardiovascular disease or diabetes with 7 year follow up
The Vitamin E group (400IU/day) group had a:
19% increased risk of Heart Failure
21% increase in hospitalizations for Heart Failure
No benefit in preventing cancer or major cardiovascular disease

Vitamin E – Women’s Health Study: 39,876 healthy women at least 45 years old followed for an average of 10 years. Vitamin E (600IU/day) showed no benefit in reducing cardiovascular disease or cancer.

Woman’s Antioxidant Study: Women with a history of cardiovascular heart disease, or 3 cardiac risk factors were given Vitamin C (500 mg/d), Vitamin E (600IU), Beta-Carotene (50 mg every other day). No Benefit was observed among women at high risk for heart disease.

Bottom line, under the rigors of controlled studies pill popping vitamins have not been shown to consistently improve health. In fact the opposite is true. And the studies suggesting potent harm should serve as a warming. Supplements will in no way substitute for a diet full of unprocessed fruit and veggies. You can’t have your Ho- Hos and Yodels and pop some vitamins and think your covered.

It is short sighted to think that beta-carotene is for instance the “anti-cancer” vitamin when it is one of over 600 carotenoids. Vitamins work in concert with each other, and grossly oversupplying one vitamin over another upsets this balance. In fact studies done in ferrets suggest that supplying beta carotene in high doses actually creates pre-cancerous lesions leading to lung cancer formation.

Here’s the take home message. The best source of vitamins is a diet rich in unprocessed fruits and veggies.

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Tomatoes contain a carotenoid called lycopene which gives tomatoes their red color and has antioxidant properties. Lycopene may be one of the reasons tomato consumption has been linked with lower rates of cardiovascular disease and prostate cancer. Interestingly, tomato sauce consumption has been associated with an even greater reduction in prostate cancer risk compared with raw tomatoes and the availability of lycopene may be responsible.

When we cook tomatoes to make a sauce, lycopene is liberated from the cell walls and is more readily absorbed which may explain the observed reduced prostate cancer risk. In fact cooking tomatoes for just 30 minutes will increase lycopene levels three fold and antioxidant activity will increase by more than half. Blending tomatoes in a food processor or a blender will also help free up lycopene and make it more readily absorbable. Lycopene, like other carotenoids, is fat soluble so a little extra virgin olive oil will help improve absorption.

Organic produce is more expensive than conventionally grown produce, so why buy organic? Organic produce is grown without synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. Traditional farming methods such as crop rotation, mulches and tillage are used to control weeds and natural fertilizers are used to enrich the soil. Besides limiting the pesticide residues you consume, organic farming methods kick up the nutritional value of the food you eat.

With no protective pesticides, organically grown produce is under more environmental stress from insects and competing plants compared to conventionally grown produce. Fruits and vegetables respond to these environmental stressors by producing greater amounts of antioxidants to build up their protective defenses. Organically grown blackberries, for instance, have 50% higher antioxidant levels compared with conventionally grown. Similarly, organically grown corn was found to have 58 % higher levels of antioxidants including Vitamin C. Often tastier than their conventionally grown counterparts, this is another good reason to go organic.

Coke and Pepsi are entering the functional food arena with 2 vitamin-fortified sodas. Dogged by increasing evidence linking soft drink consumption with obesity, and stymied by flagging sales, the two behemoths are marketing these new products as “sparking beverages.” Coke is entering with “Diet Coke Plus”, fortified with niacin, vitamins B6 and B12, magnesium and zinc. Pepsi’s entrant is with the web 2.o sounding name, “Tava” which will contain vitamins B3, B6 and E, and chromium.

Whether consumers will buy into these health benefits remain to be seen, but any real benefits are doubtful. In fact, recent evidence suggests some vitamin supplements show no clear health benefits and may even pose potential harm. Whole fruits and veggies remain your best sources of vitamins.

Mom was right. “Eat your Broccoli it’s good for you.”

Now recent evidence has shown that the antioxidant protection from 2 servings of broccoli per day is superior to taking a multivitamin supplement. Oxidative stress was reduced 22% by eating 2 servings of broccoli, while no change was observed with a multivitamin. Like rust damaging your car, oxidative stress causes your body to rust and age prematurely.

There is mounting evidence that getting antioxidants from food is superior to supplements. In fact, several studies have suggested that some vitamin supplements may do more harm than good.

Broccoli belongs to the cruciferous family of vegetables which also includes arugula, cabbage, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, bok choy, collards, kohlrabi, mustard, turnip, red radish and watercress. Notice the wonderful pepper taste when you eat cruciferous vegetables? These are the organosulfur compounds that are so good for you and provide you with antioxidant and cancer protection. So take 2 cruciferous veggie servings and…

Popping vitamin pills may do you more harm then good according to a recent study in the Journal of the American Association. In an analysis of 68 studies involving 232,606 people, researchers found no effect on mortality. However, when only high quality studies were considered, they found the death rate increased by 4% for vitamin E, 7 % for beta carotene and 16 % for vitamin A.

While analysis of vitamins from food sources show benefits, several studies analyzing their synthetic-supplement counterparts have shown troubling results. For instance, food sources of beta carotene are protective against lung cancer, but two large scale human trials showed a 28% increase in lung cancer risk among smokers taking high-dose beta carotene supplements. Follow up studies demonstrated that betacarotene in high dose supplement form increased the formation of precancerous lung cells.

Why are food sources of vitamins best? The health benefits of vitamins may be due to a synergistic interplay among different antioxidants. We know that vitamin E, for instance, interacts with vitamin C to regenerate back to its active form. Keep in mind that singling out one vitamin and ingesting it in high doses may upset this delicate balance. Rather than providing antioxidant protection, these vitamin supplements could have pro-oxidant effects causing cellular damage and accelerated aging.

At best, these vitamin supplements show no benefit and may even cause harm. Tastier than pills, stick with wholesome veggies and fruits and do your body good.