Friday, September 11, 2009 LONDON: Millions of "worried well" Britons are wasting their money and possibly risking their health by taking vitamin supplements, a leading nutritionist has said.Popular multivitamin supplements are completely pointless for the majority of people on a healthy diet, Professor Brian Ratcliffe from Robert Gordon University, in Aberdeen argued. He added that topping up on vitamins could occasionally prove dangerous.Safe levels of vitamin A can easily be exceeded, for instance, by taking both multivitamin and fish oil supplements, Prof Ratcliffe said.Excess vitamin A, which accumulates in the liver, led to headaches and nausea, and over a long period of time increased the risk of osteoporosis.Large doses of vitamin C - taken in the belief they fight colds - may be harmless but are largely excreted and have unpleasant effects on the stomach, said the professor, an expert advisor to the Food Standards Agency.Speaking at the British Festival of Science at the University of Surrey in Guildford, he pointed out that ideal vitamin intake levels varied enormously between individuals."I couldn't tell you what my personal biological requirement is for any vitamin. All I can do is use the population-based evidence," he said.He added that large numbers of "worried well" took vitamin supplements as part of a "belt and braces" approach to health."They may not be thinking very much about how much they should be taking or whether they should be taking them at all," he said."People who take multivitamin supplements are probably just wasting their money and boosting the profits of vitamin companies. With the sort of multivitamin mix that's readily available, if you're taking one of those on top of your normal vitamin intake you're unlikely to push yourself beyond safe levels. But there is a chance you could be dabbling in areas where there is a potential for harm."
BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
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