Are Vitamin C Pills Good For You?

Last year we learned that vitamin A and vitamin E supplements weren’t just a waste of money, but we were actually paying to live, on average, a shorter life—whereas vitamin D supplements were shown to increase our lifespan.

Let’s keep filling in the alphabet: vitamin C. Did scientists just discover that vitamin C supplements shorten our lifespan? Don’t do anything to our lifespan? Or do vitamin C supplements enable us to live longer?

No effect on lifespan, heart attack risk, or cancer risk—just, apparently, a waste of money.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

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• A. Sheth, R. Khurana, and V. Khurana. Potential liver damage associated with over-the-counter vitamin supplements. J Am Diet Assoc, 108(9):1536-1537, 2008.
• H. D. Sesso, J. E. Buring, W. G. Christen, T. Kurth, C. Belanger, J. MacFadyen, V. Bubes, J. A. E. Manson, R. J. Glynn, and J. M. Gaziano. Vitamins E and C in the prevention of cardiovascular disease in men: The Physicians' Health Study II randomized controlled trial. JAMA, 2008.
• J. Lin, N. R. Cook, C. Albert, E. Zaharris, J. M. Gaziano, M. Van Denburgh, J. E. Buring, and J. E. Manson. Vitamins C and E and beta carotene supplementation and cancer risk: A randomized controlled trial. J. Natl. Cancer Inst., 101(1):14-23, 2009.

• cancer
• cardiovascular disease
• heart disease
• lifespan
• longevity
• mortality
• nutrition myths
• supplements
• vitamin C