American and Finnish researchers have found that U.S. women in their 50s and 60s taking multivitamins and food supplements have an increased risk of early death.

University of Eastern Finland and the University of Minnesota researchers, who based their findings on data from the Iowa Women's Health Study, found that multivitamins is associated with a 2.4 per cent increased risk of earlier death in the 38,772 women covered by the study done in 1986, 1997 and 2004.

The findings published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine also indicate that the associated mortality risk increase was 5.9 percent for folic acid, 18 percent for copper and 3.9 percent for iron. The percentages were based on 15,594 deaths in the surveyed women during the study period.

Calcium, however, was found to decrease the risk of early death by 3.5 percent.

The findings prompted the study authors to conclude that there is "little justification for the general and widespread use of dietary supplements" and recommended taking multivitamins and dietary supplements on medical grounds such as when a patient has a nutrient deficiency disease.

In an accompanying editorial to the study, Nutraingredients-USA quoted Doctors Goran Bjelakovic and Christian Gluud from the Copenhagen University Hospital as saying, "Dietary supplementation has shifted from preventing deficiency to trying to promote wellness and prevent diseases."

The findings, however, were disputed by dietary supplement companies association, the United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA) based in Salt Lake, Utah.

Dr. Harry Rice, UNPA vice president of regulatory and scientific affairs, said the association statistics between supplements and increased risk of early death is not significant.

Rice added that the Iowa Women's Health Study was not intended as a basis for public health recommendation without further research.
A similar association, the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) based in Washington,D.C., said multivitamins and supplements were not the cause of the deaths in the study. Other findings in the study associating benefits to 15 supplements was excluded, claimed Dr. Duffy MacKay, CRN vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs.