An extensive vitamin study conducted on the widest scale ever, showed that vitamins used by older women do not help to prevent cancer and heart disease at all. The study was published in Archives of Internal medicine.

The study expanded over eight years and included 161,808 postmenopausal women. It also pointed to the disappointing vitamins results in men too.

Marian Neuhouser of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, lead author of the study said, “Get nutrients from food. Whole foods are better than dietary supplements.”

It is however was said by the Co-author Dr. JoAnn Manson said that vitamins undoubtedly have disappointing results regarding this study does not mean that they are completely sans effect.

The research was done in an observational manner, not professionally scientific. Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Harvard’s Brigham & Women’s Hospital said that the study do not clearly negate the idea that vitamins help preventing cancer.

The use of vitamins is rather effective for people with slow metabolic activity and poor eating habits, said Manson. She also added that vitamins may prove to be helpful “as a form of insurance” for such people.

This research kept the track record of women for eight years, found the similar diseases occurrence of both cancer and heart diseases. An American Cancer Society epidemiologist, Eric Jacobs said that the group used for research recommends that vitamins does not prevent cancer, but it recommends maintaining a healthy weight prompting eating of vegetable and fruit servings to five times a day and limiting meat.