Are multivitamins dangerous for children?

“Parents risk poisoning their children when they give them multivitamins,” [Susanne Bügel, professor of nutrition at the University of Copenhagen].

She argues that multivitamins should only be available by prescription.

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“Today there is convincing evidence that multivitamins do not improve health and may even be harmful,” she says.

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“I’m a bit frustrated with Susanne. She comes in too forcefully and scares people. It’s unnecessary,” says Christine Henriksen, professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Oslo

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But Bügel is not wrong either.

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The Danish professor refers to a major review study from 2012 that analysed nearly 80 randomised clinical trials on antioxidant supplements.

The study concluded that those who took beta-carotene, vitamin E, and high doses of vitamin A had a higher mortality rate than those who did not take such supplements.

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“These supplements affected the body’s antioxidant defence and disrupted the balance in the body,” says Henriksen. 

[But] she points out that the study tested the effect of high doses, far above those found in standard multivitamins sold in Norway. 

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