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Could taking one of these vitamins lead you down the path of bad behavior? Yes, say researchers.
Taking supplements may lead to poorer health, not because of what they do to your body, but what they do to your mind.
When people take supplements they get a false sense of invulnerability, a new study shows. And that can translate into a greater tendency to head down the path of risky behavior.
The intriguing study published in Psychological Science, found that people didn’t even need to be given real supplements for this devil-may-care attitude to develop – they just needed to be told they were swallowing something healthful.
For their study, Taiwanese researchers gave placebo pills to 82 volunteers, half of whom were told the capsules contained vitamins. The rest were told the truth – that these were simply sugar pills.
The big surprise came when the researchers surveyed the two groups. Those taking phony supplements reported a greater sense of invulnerability and less of a desire to exercise. They also were more likely to consider engaging in casual sex, sunbathing and binge-drinking.
At the end of the study the two groups were told they could choose between a healthful meal and an all-you-can-eat buffet. Sure enough, more of those in the group who were told they'd taken a supplement said they’d prefer the buffet.
The findings come as no surprise to Leslie Bonci, director of sports nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
“You see this even in professional athletes,” Bonci said. “Sometimes they attribute to supplements superhuman properties that let them off the hook for healthy behaviors. They’ll say, ‘I’m taking this supplement so it doesn’t matter what I eat.’”
Bonci lays the blame on ads that show healthy fit people taking supplements. You don’t see this kind of advertising for all the foods that actually do lead to good health she said.
And those ads lead to unreasonable expectations, Bonci said.
“We this face challenge every day,” she added. “And it’s not just athletes. There are many patients who believe there is exercise in a bottle.”
People have just come to expect that pills can cure everything, said Dr. Andrew Leuchter, a professor of psychiatry and director of the Laboratory of Brain, Behavior and Pharmacology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
“We live in a society that is very oriented towards taking medication,” Leuchter said. “People feel like they can take a pill and it will almost immunize them from any unhealthy lifestyle choices”
And then there’s the fact that human beings are very good at keeping two contradictory ideas in their heads at once. “It’s one of those quirks of human nature,” Leuchter said. “We do something we think will enhance our health but at the same time we’re happy to do something that may in the long term be detrimental.”
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And why is this news? It's simple human nature. In England, after watching video of bicycle riders in traffic, they made using a helmet mandatory to reduce injuries. Accident rates changed...they went up, so no net change in injuries. They reviewed video of people riding in traffic after the law went into affect and guess what. People rode closer to vehicles making accidents more likely. Why did they ride closer? They feel less vulnerable when wearing protective gear.
I have friend on Lipitor and blood pressure meds. Eats salt and fried foods like crazy, because his meds are protecting him.
hs321,
"And why is this news? It's simple human nature"
I agree. It sounds like pop-psychology or psycho-babble as some call it, to me.
This is news because it is msnbc. Notice you won't find this "story" on CNN etc. MSNBC has some sort of deal with the pharmaceutical industry to bash vitamins. Remember when we used to think of exercising, eating right and taking vitamins was good for you? What were we thinking?!!
This phenomonum has been studied and studied by social scientists since the 1950's. One of the earliest studies correlated traffic offenses with church attendance. At a given time and place, people who had just attended church had 30% more traffice offenses (running stop signs, speeding, etc) than similar people who did not go to church. This even held true for traffic offenses before and after church by the same people. Apparently they will stop at a stop sign going to church and run it on the way home.
Um...and they think 82 people in a single country is a large enough sample size? Good grief! I wear a seatbelt and put my kids in car seats whenever we're in the car, but that doesn't make me think it's okay to drive like an idiot! Supplements do not make people do bad things unless they already had that mental drive to begin with! That's like saying that giving someone a gun makes them more likely to commit murder.
Similar deal with antilock brakes and traffic accidents.
This really had to be a Government Study! It sounds like something they would do!
debau what? land you in the butchery, seriously? Scary....I need to quit takin mine with hot sauce...
OMG! I wondered what was wrong with me!
there is a negative article daily on this site about vitamins because the pharmaceutical industry owns the media and is aggressively seeking to limit the rights of consumers to get vitamins and other basic health supplements without a prescription. in other words the corporatocracy is @!$%#ting on you once again dear reader.
No, its actually like saying people who carry a gun feel better protected and are more likely to stay in an altercation or venture into things they wouldn't normally do. If I had a gun on me all the time, I would walk down a a dark alley instead of around the block(as an example). I know many people who think drinking "vitamin water" before and after a workout is good for them.... Its worse than soda..... Your thinking about the article the wrong way. This is about a false mental feeling. Neither of your examples are accurate or correct. If you gave replica guns to a group of 80 people, and half were told they were fake, that its a correct. If you put 80 people in cars with faulty seatbelts and half were told they were faulty, that is correct. Sorry but your comment is just completely inaccurate.......
The same can be said for wearing a seat belt and having air bags in your vehicle. People drive
recklessly because they feel invulnurable.
Only a moron would think they could do something healthy in order to justify doing something purposely unhealthy. Supplements and other habits that support the immune system and strengthen the body are meant to add to one's health. They do not negate negative behaviors. It's as simple as that. Until people understand that there are no substitutions for living healthy, we will continue to be a society of sick, over weight and lazy human beings dependent upon a medical system operating under the fallacy of having magical cures for a life of carelessness and neglect. It's time we all accept our responsibility.
Mosquito coast ?
Some people will take a pill to boost the process of eating healthy..dum a...s...s article !
I don't see whats unhealthy about haviing casual sex, followed up by resting in the sun, and having a few drinks, sounds like living to me!.
Shrug. I don't see how my comment was inaccurate at all. To suggest that simply taking a pill gives someone a sense of invincibility is nuts. I got all A's in my health classes, I know darn good and well that vitamins won't make me invulnerable. I'm saying this sample size is too small to get accurate data. Did they collect ANY data at all on their habits before the study? I mean, c'mon, anyone that is willing to be a scientific guinea pig has to have some recklessness in the first place!
For those asking the question: "Why is this news?"
It is news because you are reading it.
Those blue vitamins my wife gives me at bed time seem to really work. Is it all in my mind?
Best reply I've seen so far.
Kudos to your wife too.
Two lunesta and you'll leave her alone for a couple of days!!!!
Remember dirtydog after 4 hours.......................call all your friends and post some youtube videos!!! Fly a small flag and sing the national anthem!!
My fishing buddy told me he took the blue pill and it did last over four hours.....so he went to the doctor as warned. To remedy it they showed him a picture of nancy pelosi. Now he is filing a lawsuit for overmedication and damages from the cure...HAHA :)
Actually it's all in your head(whichever one is bigger is your business)
Sunbathing is debauchery?
Who Knew?
Yes! Why, those terrorist sunbathers might even expose a NIPPLE!!! That...that would kill those poor kids who are only used to yelling "LOL HEADSHOT f*cking noobs"* into a mic while shooting people in Call of Duty.
We must cover these vile exposers before they discover how to unbutton their shirts and show off their smooth abs!
*where "LOL" is pronounced as an acronym, of course
The problem with sunbathing is not nudity (which is harmless). The problem with sunbathing is that it leads to skin cancer.
Debauchery is a strange word to use when referring to sunbathing, though, I'll give you that.
I love debauchery. It reminds me of those long summer nights so long ago when life was carefree and everyone felt invincible while satisfying the cravings for multivitamins.
I think the "debauchery" the media needs to focus on is the "debauchery" being done to America by our politicians! They are more worried about Hollywood stars, attacks on conservatives, etc. ........ but ignore the actions of the most derisive President in history, and his power hungry mob in Congress!
THAT'S how the highschool junior here in town ended up in someone's house, naked at 3:00 a.m. It wasn't the LSD after all!!! Darn football coaches!!
That's odd. After taking mega B3 for several months, I discovered I was dysperceptive, which also meant I was likely schizophrenic; therefore, alcohol and almost all of the street drugs had to go. I guess I should have gobbled commercial multivitamins so I could stay drunk and high all the time.
And later in the article, the ultimate debauchery is eating at the buffet.
What happens in Vegas ...
Did they use college students????
Reads like a bunch of crap to me. I wonder how much money was spent on this "study"? I take supplements and I can assure you they have NO effect on my activities, be they detrimental or beneficial to my health.
Amen! This reads like a bunch of crap..... Education has brought forth a mass of trivial nonsense. Who needed the grant money?
You are reading the media report on the study. You cannot declare the study itself "crap" until you've actually read it. What you've actually declared to be "crap" is the media interpretation which is almost always true.
This piss-poor shoddy pile of steaming crap fiction MSNBC calls "journalism" is a prime example of what we call, "a strawman argument".
OBVIOUSLY, in contradiction to the headline of the article, taking vitamins does not subject one to debauchery. Having a human sense of invulnerability, in fact, may do so, as was discovered in the article by using proper reading comprehension.
Why does it seem as though the MSM has been busy over the last few years attempting to denounce and discredit vitamins and supplements? The research CLEARLY shows the deleterious effects of not comsuming enough essential vitamins, so why is there such an ongoing attack on taking vitamins prophylactically?
I've been reading MSNBC for years now, but I'm increasingly becoming disgusted with the professionalism (or lack thereof)!
Amen, Indy! People eat far too much crap already, so taking vitamins would actually show GOOD common sense as far as I'm concerned! We know darn well our big-agri food supply, fresh or processed, is not sufficient for our health. Taking the time and expense to go the extra mile and take these supplements is better than not caring at all.
Cat you're missing the point of the article. It wasn't saying you shouldn't take vitamins, it was pointing out the psychology of our contradictory minds. They just used a catchy headline to make people click on it to see what was going on (common tactic for all news agencies). The article is more trying to raise awareness that when you take vitamins, exercise, etc. we have a tendency to believe we've done our "good deed" for our body and now it's ok to do something detrimental. This has the effect of removing the positive thing we did. In the example of taking vitamins, individuals take actions that end up being worse in the long run then those that didn't actually take vitamins. This happens due to having a false sense of protection when we see ourselves as doing something good.
Dammit doggysaywhat... DON"T confuse me with a proper interpretation of the article... I'm just so mad at everything and I'll be DAMNED if I'll let you try and reason with me when I get like this!!!
hehe
The entire point of the article was that taking vitamins would give you a false sense of invincibility, and therefore, could be bad for you. I didn't miss it. It's another attempt by big pharma to get us off of inexpensive supplements so they can buy out all the vitamin companies and charge us to the earth for them.
I don't see why even very healthy athletes would think they can "eat whatever they want" just because they are taking a certain supplement. You have to exercise regularly, and also eat right. Taking vitamins can help you get to your goals faster, but you still have to have a well balanced diet, and exercise daily. It should be common sense by now. It is not rocket science.
I am going to increase my vitamin daily dosage!!
Need to get with the narcisstic, me first, everybody owes me a living generation.
Maybe we should outlaw supplements? Watch the Biggest Loser, see what eating garbage and not exercising does to us, then watch the contestants transform over the course of the season as they exercise, eat right and learn what is good and bad for them. Of course we all know we should exercise, we all know we should avoid too much fat, salt or sugar, we all know we should eat more fruits and vegetables but it usually takes a health crisis to motivate us to change. Human nature is pretty hard to fight and we seek enjoyment in everything we do, eating is as enjoyable as the taste of the food we consume. Funny, I stopped eating so much red meat two years ago, now some of the vegetables on my plate taste better than the rest of the meal, even if I indulge and have red meat too. Exercise and the right diet combined with supplements have helped me stay healthy, I've lost 50 pounds, weaned myself off of Lipitor, and Nexium, in fact, I no longer take any kind of prescription medication. My doctor gushes over the healthy changes in me and I feel better than I have in twenty years. Diet and exercise are keys to good health and a potentially longer life. Supplements can help but nothing takes the place of good nutritious food eaten in moderation.
The fact that you watch "the biggest loser" means you are sitting home watching TV. Doesn't that signify right there that you don't live a healthy lifestyle? Don't listen to these stupid studies. The government hands out money for ridiculous studies that are not scientific and are based on theories that no respected journal would publish.
Orthehighway,
Watching television isn't unhealthy unless that is all you do. Drawing conclusions based on limited information is part of the trouble with us these days. Judging others or issues without sufficient information is something we all do from time to time. You sir, have taken this proclivity to new heights. You are a master conclusion jumper! To suggest that I am leading an unhealthy lifestyle because I watch television and then to further imply that somehow overeating, not exercising or eating foods that are unhealthy is unsupported by science and suggest that the government is engaged in some type of conspiracy to waste money by paying for studies related to our health and that the conclusions of the aforementioned studies are so worthless that no respected journal wold publish them is flat out silly. Is that what you were hoping to for? To look silly? Mission accomplished!
Orthehighway - So, according to you because sighber watches tv once in a while, he has an unhealthy lifestyle. Using that logic, I say that you must also have an unhealthy lifestyle because you obviously do nothing all day except sit in front of a computer reading bad msnbc articles and jumping to conclusons.
This is PREPOSTEROUS!!!!!!
Yes it is, I take vitimins and have never sunbathed in the nude. Maybe I'm taking the wrong kind, but again if I did that it would scare too many people.
"Be happy! Take a pill!"
Study this! Study that! Tell me what the next study should be, and I'll do it to make some cash. After all, it's not about the results, it's about being paid for the study. I think I've written this same diatribe at least ten times over the past few months. As long as someone gets paid for a study, they will write it, whether it holds water or not.
What's the next study going to be? The danger of soda straws poking out one's eye? That to prevent blindness we should all wear protective glasses while drinking fluids through a straw? With a 99.9% chance of success, we should enforce the use of safety eyewear to cure blindness attributed to soda straw attacks. (yeah, right, but I had to say it.) I'll even bet a glasses' manufacturer would pay for the study.
Garbage science, again. GIGO
OH! This explains it ALL! I started taking multivitamins, and I started Skydiving! And Hangliding! And Formula 1 Racing! And attending OWS sit-ins!!
And the idiot that came up with this probably works for some large pharmatical company and also believes man is causing global warming.
thats exactly what we thought. The less informed (or sheeple) will probably buy into this. what a crock!
My grandfather started taking vitimins when he was fifty years old and they finally killed him at the age of 108. Yep they're bad for you.
108!!!! Good Lord! I hope you share his longevity!
And exercise will kill you, too! Had a 96 year old uncle died when he tripped getting off his exercise machine. Wow, we need to be careful about all this supposed healthy stuff! Next thing you know they wil say vegetables are dangerous.
Vegetables are dangerous! My Great Aunt Martha (if you ask me she wasn't that great) choked on celery and died.
Oh well, maybe they'll find something that will let us live forever.
The pills were sugar pills. Maybe it's not a mental thing, but a reaction to the sugar pills! ;)
Good point, everyone knows sugar makes you hyper, LOL
Or maybe the sugar pills turned the control group into wimps.
PUH-LEEZE. who paid for this Big Pharma? lol. My raw vitamins work very well thank you very much. get the next sucker.
This doesn't surprise me. This isn't just about vitamins. The whole medical paradigm supports this. Why be responsible and take care of your health when you can get a prescription to "fix" anything that goes wrong?
MSNBC is full of shi_! Where do they dig up this crap?
this is a prime example of why MSN needs to fire all of the writers and editors
What total crap
Breathing too fast has been proven to cause erections lasting for hours... drinking too much water makes you pee... coffee induces night frights... exercise causes endorphins to dominate the system and leads to nymphomania...
Who pays for these studies?
Obsessive Compulsive masturbation makes it hard to finish......
I thought masturbation causes blindness...
It says the study was in Taiwan but why do I thnk that our government sponsered a few million for the study. Funny vitamins have not affected my wife and I but we take American vitamins maybe thats the difference.
Actually, the US does grant funding for such completely silly studies.
Guess the same could be said for all the vitamin foritifed foods also. And what about those of us that eat fresh foods and stay away from processed, I guess it is all in the mind also.
Since when are buffets not healthy? I can get a salad, meat, vegetables and bread and any buffet I've been to and that still makes a healthy meal. Unless they are implying that the buffet eaters go back for seconds, thirds, fourths.....
Who authorized funding this ridiculous study? Tell us what they were taking.
I believe, you only live once, so enjoy it. Give up all the pleasures in life for few extra years of old age? Not worth it in my book. Of course I dont suggest you should be suicidal or completely reckless. But I think some people do more harm then good, denying themselves everything. No one is going to live forever, no matter what they do.
I'll take the buffet everytime.
well the study was taken in TAIWAN! debauchery is just the deafult activity there. what a stupid study. The reaserchers were probably drunk themselves.
People just want to do bad things and are looking for any excuse to green-light the naughty thing they want to do. It doesn't matter if it's real or not, but it helps us be extra naughty if it's real.
You don't have to try to be a smarty pants. Go ahead and do the naughty thing you like as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else. You know what I mean.
Maybe its because we now have most of our vitamins produced in Vachina.
Weird place. I like to visit there but the journey sometimes isn't worth the trouble.
haha. Vachina
OH, I get it! (Just not very often...)