BOSTON, Feb. 6 What is known about vitamins has not translated into beneficial, standardized recommendations for public health, says a U.S. expert.Dr. Irwin Rosenberg, director of the Jean Mayer U.S. Department of Agriculture's Human Nutrition Research on Aging at Tufts University in Boston, outlines challenges and opportunities to advancing the scientific knowledge of vitamins and minerals in an article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.The evidence regarding vitamin use for prevention of chronic disease is still quite rudimentary, especially for multivitamins, says Rosenberg. Rosenberg points to research indicating that people who use multivitamins usually have better diets and participate in more physical activity.Since multivitamin-users are generally healthier, it might not be feasible to attribute health outcomes to vitamin use until we have more information. The best source of vitamins is food, he adds. Rosenberg suggests that supplements be regulated, as they are currently subject to very little federal regulation -- the term multivitamin encompasses hundreds, if not thousands, of products with varied content and dose of vitamins and minerals.Standards would be helpful to both consumers and industry, said Rosenberg. Copyright 2007 by UPI
