If you're taking vitamins A, E or beta-carotene pills, you might want to reconsider after this report by the Copenhagen University that suggests such vitamins appear to raise, not lower, the risk of death.
Vitamins 'could shorten lifespan'
The Copenhagen team reviewed more than 815 clinical trials into the benefits of vitamins A, E, and C, alongside beta-carotene and selenium - all commonly-used supplements.
They selected 68 whose methods were more likely to produce an accurate picture of vitamin benefits, then added their results together to form one, large-scale study.
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"Considering that 10% to 20% of the adult population in Europe and North America may consume the supplements, the public health consequences may be substantial."
They said there were several different explanations for this increase in risk - and suggested that knocking out 'free radicals' might actually interfere with a natural defence mechanism within the body.
Eating more fruits and vegetables, a more balanced diet in other words, is a lot safer. Drinking coffee and eating dark chocolate will also add anti-oxidants naturally.
The close proximity of children and grandchildren is trumping the appeal of warm weather as the Elderly Head Back North.
For the first time since the Depression, more Americans ages 75 and older have been leaving the South than moving there, according to a New York Times analysis of Census Bureau data.
The reversal appears to be driven in part by older people who retired to the South in their 60s, but decided to return home to their children and grandchildren in the Northeast, Midwest and West after losing spouses or becoming less mobile.