| The consumption of a daily multivitamin among people all over the world is dramatically
increasing in recent years. Most of the people believe that if vitamins are not effective, at least
they are safe. However, the long term health consequences of vitamins consumption are
unknown. This study aimed to assess the side effects and possible harmful and detrimental
properties of vitamins and to discuss whether vitamins can be used as safe health products or
dietary supplements. We performed a MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus and Google
Scholar search and assessed reference lists of the included studies which were published from
1993 through 2015. The studies, with an emphasis on RCTs (randomized controlled clinical
trials), were reviewed. As some vitamins such as fat-soluble vitamins (vitamin A, vitamin D,
vitamin E), and also some of the water-soluble vitamins like folic acid may cause adverse
events and some like vitamin C is widely taken assuming that it has so many benefits and no
harm, we included relevant studies with negative or undesired results regarding the effect of
these vitamins on health.
Our recommendation is that taking high-dose supplements of vitamins A, E, D, C, and folic
acid is not always effective for prevention of disease, and it can even be harmful to the health |