A constant debate rages on over supplement pills – are they part of a healthy lifestyle, are they a pointless addition to your diet, or are they even bad for your general wellbeing? New evidence is being put forward all the time, and now it seems that vitamin C is the latest supplement that is coming under fire.
Vitamin C is one of the most commonly taken dietary pills, but some experts have claimed that you don’t need a supplement to get your recommended level if you’re eating healthily. Now a new study has revealed that taking a daily vitamin C tablet can double the risk of developing kidney stones in adult men.
Swedish researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm looked at data from 22,000 middle-aged and elderly men. They were interviewed and then tracked for 11 years. 907 of the participants took vitamin C pills on a daily basis. The results showed that taking the pills led to a higher risk factor of developing kidney stones. It was found that 3.4 percent of the men who took the pills developed kidney stones, while the figure reduced to 1.8 percent for those who didn’t take the supplement.
Of course the findings don’t necessarily mean that it is the vitamin C pills that are causing the kidney stones, and more research into other factors is necessary to come up with a more conclusive understanding of exactly what happens.
The fact is, however, that increasingly we are seeing a trend that suggests vitamin supplements are not really all they are cut out to be. With studies constantly linking the pills to risk factors in conditions, or not providing the health benefits they promise we might be wise to steer clear of them. Vitamin C is present in all fruit and vegetables, and if you’re getting the right number of portions every day you should have no problem getting the right amount.
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