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."
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in
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