B vitamins: Extra may not help
Why the discrepancy? It could be that the effect was more subtle than studies were designed to detect, or that the wide availability
of folate-fortified foods now has made supplements superfluous.
High doses of folic acid also didn't pay off in a three-year clinical trial of people with a history of precancerous polyps in the colon or rectum. And despite the claims of fortified-drink makers, extra B's won't give you an energy boost. "Yes, you need B vitamins to extract energy from food," says Patrick Stover, Ph.D., director of nutritional sciences at Cornell University, "but that doesn't mean that adding more will give you extra energy if you're in good health." In fact, the only groups who may need supplements are strict vegetarians who miss out on B12 in animal-derived foods; people older than 50, who often lack the stomach acid needed to extract the B12 in food; and women of child-bearing age, who need additional folic acid to help prevent neural-tube defects in the developing fetus.
High doses of folic acid also didn't pay off in a three-year clinical trial of people with a history of precancerous polyps in the colon or rectum. And despite the claims of fortified-drink makers, extra B's won't give you an energy boost. "Yes, you need B vitamins to extract energy from food," says Patrick Stover, Ph.D., director of nutritional sciences at Cornell University, "but that doesn't mean that adding more will give you extra energy if you're in good health." In fact, the only groups who may need supplements are strict vegetarians who miss out on B12 in animal-derived foods; people older than 50, who often lack the stomach acid needed to extract the B12 in food; and women of child-bearing age, who need additional folic acid to help prevent neural-tube defects in the developing fetus.
