LONDON — Multivitamins could increase the risk of cancer by as much as 30 percent and should carry a health warning, a doctor from a British charity warns. The controversial suggestion goes against the widely-held belief that taking multivitamins could help boost health by ensuring people receive adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals each day. As a result, Dr. Mohammad Muneeb Khan from the United Kingdom’s “Killing Cancer Kindly” says that multivitamin products should include labels with tobacco product-style warnings due to the dangers tied to taking certain supplements.
Dr. Khan, a National Health Service (NHS) oncologist, contends that supplements “bombard the body with huge doses of wholly unnecessary nutrients,” which may enable cancerous cells to grow and multiply. Natural vitamins found in foods, meanwhile, pose no danger because they are absorbed slowly, and the body takes only what it needs before flushing out the rest.
On the other hand, synthetic pills flood the bloodstream with up to twice the recommended daily dosage of nutrients, becoming a “superfood” for cancers, according to the doctor. Multivitamin supplements could also increase the risk of developing other cancers such as prostate cancer, bowel cancer, and breast cancer, the representative from Killing Cancer Kindly adds.
The risk may be so substantial that the charity is now calling for a change in legislation to force manufacturers of multivitamins to include warning labels on their packaging. The warnings appear in Dr. Khan’s new research book “You’ll Wish You Were an Elephant (Killing Cancer Kindly).”
“Synthetic pills contain obscenely high and wholly unnecessary volumes of micronutrient that far exceed what the average human body requires,” Dr. Khan says, according to a statement from SWNS.
“These tiny organic compounds are so numerous that our organs struggle to use them, and they’re left, in effect, to float about the body. The problem is that these excess multivitamins are readily available to feed the hundreds of cancer cells that are made in our body every day. Normally, our body has the capability to destroy these cancer cells effectively but this becomes a challenge when they are well-fed and able to increase in number quickly,” the doctor continues.
“Imagine hundreds of ravenous little Pac-Men running around and gobbling everything up and then multiplying in number exponentially over time until they are able to completely overrun our body’s anti-cancer defenses such as the immune system. The solution, as controversial as it may at first appear, is to reclassify multivitamins as a drug and make people aware of their side effects. A health warning and prescription would work best alongside the general advice that most people, children and adults alike, do not need additional vitamins in their diet, period.”
According to the CDC, nearly six in 10 adults take a daily supplement, which usually contains a broad spectrum of what manufacturers call “essential” organic compounds. These are said to help maintain normal metabolic function – the chemical reactions in our cells that change food into energy.
Our bodies need this energy to do everything from moving and thinking, to growing and repairing. Until now, supplements have been considered safe to use but unnecessary for anyone except those with recognized nutritional deficiencies.
Studies have long shown that a varied, balanced diet, provides all the vitamins the average person needs. However, KCK says that there is a growing body of “compelling” research that suggests a direct link between synthetic vitamin consumption and increased rates of lung cancer, prostate cancer, bowel cancer, and breast cancer.
The risk is said to be the same for all adults regardless of whether they live an otherwise healthy lifestyle. Cancer cells have up to 10 times the capacity of normal healthy cells to absorb nutrients floating around the body – including vitamins.
While other types of nutrients, such as protein, fats, and minerals, also help them to grow, vitamins are, as with normal cells, essential for their survival and reproduction. Natural vitamins, obtained from “healthy” foods such as fruits and vegetables, do not pose the same dangers because of the relatively small quantities released into the body during the digestion process, the author explains.
(credit photo from Pexels)
Unlike their synthetic counterparts, they are “locked away” in the food, with only a fraction being broken down and absorbed before undigested food is excreted – typically within 24 hours. Being concentrated, supplements are rapidly and readily absorbed, leaving an excess of vitamins circulating the bloodstream and just waiting to be “mopped up” by cancer cells before they can be processed or excreted.
Describing the situation as a “ticking health timebomb,” Dr. Khan is now calling for urgent action to curb their use. He wants to see manufacturers add mandatory health warnings on the front and back of packaging — like those found on tobacco products. Khan adds that the government also needs to reclassify multivitamin supplements as a medicine to make them available by prescription only.
“There is a growing body of scientific research pointing to synthetic multivitamin supplements increasing the risk if used daily over a prolonged period. In one flagship study, the CARET trial, the increased risk of developing lung cancer from taking a daily supplement, including vitamins B6, B9, and B12, was estimated to be nearly 30 percent,” Dr. Khan says, according to SWNS.
“Studies looking at the daily use of supplements including vitamin A and vitamin B complex (including vitamins such as B1, B6 and B12) have, likewise, shown a correlation in increased risk for different types of cancer, though more research is required to confirm by how much. And while research is likewise lacking at present for other vitamins, it’s fair to assume they will also have similar effects,” he continues.
“Natural vitamins pose no danger as they are released slowly in the body so we only take what we need but synthetic multivitamins are rapidly absorbed, flooding the body with far more than it can use. This is great news for cancer cells as they can take in 10 times the quantity of vitamins and other nutrients that normal healthy cells can, speeding up their growth and reproduction and overwhelming our body’s abilities to destroy them.”
A pioneering study into the cancer risk posed by multivitamin supplements will begin next year and involve KCK collaborating with an American university.
“But we need to act now by raising awareness of the potential dangers, and there’s no better way to do this than forcing manufacturers to place a prominent, science-backed warning on every package,” Dr. Khan concludes.
“Ideally, however, the Government should go further and regulate the sale of synthetic multivitamins, in the same way that other medicines which carry a health risk if used over a prolonged period are restricted – by making them prescription-only. Like antibiotics, vitamins should be used sparingly, only being taken by those who have a diagnosed vitamin deficiency, and only for as long as required to restore them to health.”
South West News Service writer Ed Cullinane contributed to this report.
You might also be interested in:
- Taking dietary supplements full of antioxidants could actually help cancerous tumors grow
- Do multivitamins work? Study concludes supplements a ‘waste of money’ for most people
- A Dietitian’s Take: If you only take one supplement, this is the one to pick
My wife is an oncologist and a cancer research scientist with 30+ years of experience in the field and 66 peer reviewed research papers. I can abjectly say that this quack hasn’t the foggiest clue what he’s talking about.
Agreed.
More propaganda.
GMO food has no nutritional value. They care so much, then scare you into injecting poison into your body. The death cult must go.
He may be wrong, but he doesn’t appear to be a quack. On the other hand, “My wife is an oncologist” is not a personal credential.
In 1996 I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I had a Whipple, chemo and radiation. I changed my diet and began massive doses of vitamins. Doctor all tell me don’t stop what I’m doing….including taking the vitamins!!! Not bad for a 27 year survivor.
But we’re gonna believe some random johnsmith that probably isn’t even your real name? my name is JohnSmith too then lol and my mothers brothers cousins sisters former roommate is an expert in astrophysics which makes me absolutely nothing
The article makes some sense but it needs further research. I don’t know if its actually true but maybe your wife should research it herself before you come up with a definitive answer. There are a lot of problems with food and BS supplements in the UK and USA and surprise the cancer rates and overall health problems are much higher in these countries than most other countries.
Interesting and we will see how it pans out.
The problem is “the government should do this” and the “government should do that”. It’s just not your business doc. Telling your patients not to is another matter.
Do you realize the number of times the medical establishment has gotten it wrong and just killed huge numbers of people? Have you heard of the duplication crisis? Now obviously doctors also get it right and save lives, the point being not to not listen to your doctor, but that they aren’t gods and shouldn’t really be dictating policy. Influence sure, but I’d much rather we give people information and let them make choices. Compulsion is a nasty business often and can have unpredictable consequences.
This doctor is either grossly ignorant or deliberately lying. The CARET trial used beta-carotene and retinyl palmitate (vitamin A), not B vitamins.
Current MV products have too much vitamin A in the formula. Irrefutable and no debate. Vitamin A deficiency is nonexistent in 1st world countries. It’s already in everything. If anything remove it completely from all products. Subclinical toxicity from this vitamin is the issue. Too much!
Not the case with “vitamin” D. Much too little to have benefit in all MVs. The RDI for this most important molecule is understated by a factor of at least 8 (600 i.u. daily?). 600 i.u. daily prevents rickets in 4 year olds. The metabolite of this most potent, by far, steroid hormone is calcitriol. Calcitriol BY FAR the most important genetic agent yet discovered. Calcitriol is the master control molecule of the human immune system. Hands down. Controls microbiome and gut function. Nothing comes close to it. Beyond debate.
Do your research and figure it out. Doctors are afraid of it and pharma terrified of it. They will down play it because it negates prescription meds. It absolutely does. Just ask a sickel cell patient or someone suffering chronic pain.
This is an obvious hit-piece. Big Pharma going after the supplement market. And, what are the odds that Dr. Mohammad Muneeb Khan from the United Kingdom’s “Killing Cancer Kindly” has financial incentives to put this out?
This so called study is not even close to proof
So of course the FDA will ban all attempts at providing our own diet and healthcare
This will never end until we are all eating bugs
So many prescription drugs like statins with horrible side effects but no one speaks against the pharmaceutical companies
There are worse things than death, and eating bugs is one of them. Taking pharmaceuticals for what a vitamin supplement would cure, is another one.
“30% increase in risk” is less significant than sitting on the couch for a few hours a day, and likely a flat out lie. I like how they put a blanket label on “supplements”. There are thousands of different supplement products out there with many different effects. B vitamins don’t cause cancer you goof. We can take much more than the daily value of many vitamins, and they aren’t just “sitting around in the body”. This is just a big pharma power grab. And I do believe that most of the crap supplements you get at walmart could cause cancer from contamination and poor manufacturing processes, along with other junk ingredients. Big pharma is a big scam. Most often health issues can be resolved without their protocols, and most of the time they don’t even rule out many other more obvious unerlying causes for their patients problems. We need to free the health system to holistic approaches and individualistic approaches, insted doctors just follow along with a computer program to see what insurance companies will give them money for. Huge scam and the expense of human life, and human wealth. Get government out of the health game. Most of the government are on drug that have side effects that list “homocide” as a possible side effect. You really want these people running your life?
It always seems like when most of society discovers something good, big pharma and cdc come out with something crazy to deter people. Obviously quality supplements are good and knowing exactly what is necessary in deficiency, also. But look at things like MTHFR gene and folate deficiency – AND look at Vitamin D. I just dont believe CDC or big pharma is ever out for the good of society…..Covid Vaccine for the better good???? Yeah right.
Any kind of multivitamin makes me sick. So I believe it. I think my body is rejecting them
So don’t take the ones full of food dye and chemical sweeteners 🙄
This is why I never listen to “Study Finds”. Granted, there are tons of supplements out there that are worthless at best, and even harmful. But, that being said, that is what you get if you buy your supplements at Walgreen’, Walmart and etc. If you buy “quality supplements from great formulators like Global Healing Center, Dr. Josh Axe, or Jordan Rubin. You pay more and you get quality.
this is the dumbest article on the internet
This is an example of “I can’t get clicks if I say what is true, so let me speculate with no evidence at all.” Probably a paid shill of the pharmaceutical industry because healthy people don’t need their toxic drugs
For year’s ( more than 40 yrs for me ), I’ve read nothing but ‘ you’re wasting your money taking supplements, BECAUSE they don’t get absorbed, and you just poop them out .’ Lots of pictures showing that too.
So now you’re saying just the opposite from what the government was telling us?
Sounds a lot like pharmacutical control
I know you only mention vitamins. Because I believe way back in the 1930’s , the bureau of agriculture said the mineral content of our farm land was nearly devoid of minerals.
Just a question ( I’m trying to understand )
So plants and animals taking up mineral poor sources, wouldn’t that make them less healthy?
What a load of garbage. This is one man’s (likely financially conflicted) suggestion. This is not even a “study”, so why is “StudyFinds” promelgating such filthy disinformation? Are you financially conflicted, too?
This is on StudyFinds. Therefore you can safely take your multivitamins daily.
Now do pharmaceuticals…
What’s wrong, Doc? No kickback?
This crackpot is quite possibly the dumbest person on planet earth.
Medical propaganda is still propaganda. George Washington died from being bled to “cure” an illness. This was the best medical advice of the day, and it was wrong. Kind of like today ,when the preponderance of ignorance far outweighs any knowledge we have of human biochemistry, we still have “experts” making recommendations based on, well really nothing at all.
The medical establishment is as tarnished as the media and politicians, it is a financial system, not a medical system, health is an afterthought. Don’t believe most of what you read, especially if it has to do with the media, medicine or the government.
Its a richness of lies by which they bury you, first your curiousit they crush, then your intellect and finally your ability to resist the onslaught of lies.
Turn away, They cannot destroy you if you do not partake of the poisons they wish to implant in body and soul. turn away. while you may.
Yeah, he did not do a study. He’s just promoting a book he wrote. And to get attention he’s making extreme statements based on flimsy evidence and conjecture.