--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If you look at all the vitamin studies…" description: "\"“If you look at all the vitamin studies done on more than a thousand people in the last few decades, almost all of them have shown an increased risk of..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/944/david-b-agus-10716_cancer_if-you-look-at-all-the-vitamin-studies-d_2834580.jpg" --- # If you look at all the vitamin studies done on more than a… ![“If you look at all the vitamin studies done on more than a thousand people in the last few decades, almost all of them have shown an increased risk of cancer. Some of these results were statistical, but some were not. The body likes to create free radicals to attack bad cells, including cancerous…” quote by David B. Agus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/944/david-b-agus-10716_cancer_if-you-look-at-all-the-vitamin-studies-d_2834580.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/944/david-b-agus-10716_cancer_if-you-look-at-all-the-vitamin-studies-d_2834580.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/944/david-b-agus-10716_cancer_if-you-look-at-all-the-vitamin-studies-d_2834580.jpg) > ““If you look at all the vitamin studies done on more than a thousand people in the last few decades, almost all of them have shown an increased risk of cancer. Some of these results were statistical, but some were not. The body likes to create free radicals to attack bad cells, including cancerous ones. If you block that mechanism by taking copious vitamins, especially those touted as antioxidants, you block your body’s natural ability to control itself. You block a physiological process. You disrupt a system we don’t fully understand yet.”” [David B. Agus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-b-agus/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Excessive vitamin supplementation may disrupt natural free radical defenses, potentially increasing cancer risk. **In simple terms:** Too many vitamins can hinder body’s defense. Key Takeaway Use vitamins wisely. Themes health nutrition oxidative stress Mood cautious inquisitive Type medical educational When to use this quote - dietary supplement choices - medical advice - risk assessment Key Concepts free radicals antioxidants cancer risk Questions to Reflect On - What evidence supports balanced vitamin intake? - How do you assess personal antioxidant needs? A Different Perspective Individual needs vary; over-supplementation can be harmful. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Antioxidants Block](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/antioxidants-block-3682290/) [Cancer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cancer/) [Copious Vitamins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/copious-vitamins-3682291/) [Food](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/food/) [Risk Cancer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/risk-cancer-1084842/) [Vitamin Studies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vitamin-studies-3682292/) [Vitamins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vitamins/) ## Related quotes > [“Routinely sleeping less than six or seven hours a night demolishes your immune system, more than doubling your risk of cancer.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-walker/routinely-sleeping-less-than-six-or-seven-hours-a-night-demolishes/) [Matthew Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-walker/) > [“Life is risk. I could get cancer. Or get hit by a car. 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We can do without an extended family as human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/but-anyway-it-s-obvious-through-human-experience-that-extended/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [Science has salvaged scrap metal and even found vitamins and valuable oils in refuse, but old people are extravagantly wasted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anzia-yezierska/science-has-salvaged-scrap-metal-and-even-found-vitamins-and-valuable/) [Anzia Yezierska](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anzia-yezierska/) > [Low levels of vitamin D in the population as a whole suggest that most people need to take a vitamin D supplement. This may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-weil/low-levels-of-vitamin-d-in-the-population-as-a-whole-suggest-that/) [Andrew Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-weil/) ## More by David B. Agus > [“one must first know the rules to break them,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-b-agus/one-must-first-know-the-rules-to-break-them/) [David B. Agus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-b-agus/) > [“I highly recommend Pollan’s book In Defense of Food”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-b-agus/i-highly-recommend-pollan-s-book-in-defense-of-food/) [David B. Agus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-b-agus/) > [“cancer is as old as the human race and has been documented since ancient history.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-b-agus/cancer-is-as-old-as-the-human-race-and-has-been-documented-since/) [David B. Agus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-b-agus/) > [“Children of parents who reported having a rule about bedtime scored about 6 percentage points higher on an assessment of their vocabulary compared with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-b-agus/children-of-parents-who-reported-having-a-rule-about-bedtime-scored/) [David B. 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Agus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-b-agus/) > [“Think of the body as a self-maintaining factory; it is constantly regenerating itself down to every cell.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-b-agus/think-of-the-body-as-a-self-maintaining-factory-it-is-constantly/) [David B. Agus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-b-agus/) > [“Instead of saying, “You know, my house has water,” we say, “My plumbing is leaking.” Instead of saying, “Somebody has cancer,” we should say,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-b-agus/instead-of-saying-you-know-my-house-has-water-we-say-my-plumbing-is/) [David B. Agus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-b-agus/) > [“DNA governs probabilities more than it dictates destinies,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-b-agus/dna-governs-probabilities-more-than-it-dictates-destinies/) [David B. Agus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-b-agus/) > [“People can get well for any number of reasons, none of which may be due to any prescribed treatment or “elixir.” Indeed, there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-b-agus/people-can-get-well-for-any-number-of-reasons-none-of-which-may-be/) [David B. Agus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-b-agus/) > [“Without your health, you have nothing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-b-agus/without-your-health-you-have-nothing/) [David B. Agus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-b-agus/) [Explore all 64 David B. Agus quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-b-agus/) ## More Cancer quotes > [Women still, when they have breast cancer, go to work; they still lead their lives. They have to. I just did what I was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/monica-potter/women-still-when-they-have-breast-cancer-go-to-work-they-still-lead/) [Monica Potter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/monica-potter/) > [If one truly has lost hope, one would not be on hand to say so.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-bentley/if-one-truly-has-lost-hope-one-would-not-be-on-hand-to-say-so/) [Eric Bentley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-bentley/) > [Racism is a cancer. You cannot ignore it and it'll go away. If you ignore cancer, it simply metastasizes and consumes the whole body.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daryl-davis/racism-is-a-cancer-you-cannot-ignore-it-and-it-ll-go-away-if-you/) [Daryl Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daryl-davis/) > [Historically, more people have died of religion than cancer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-francis/historically-more-people-have-died-of-religion-than-cancer/) [Dick Francis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dick-francis/) > [“Our kind of love can go into remission, but it's always waiting to return. Like the world sweetest cancer.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gillian-flynn/our-kind-of-love-can-go-into-remission-but-it-s-always-waiting-to/) [Gillian Flynn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gillian-flynn/) > [Bollywood is a cancer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-banerjee/bollywood-is-a-cancer/) [Victor Banerjee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-banerjee/) > [You should be angry. You must not be bitter. Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. It doesn't do anything to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/you-should-be-angry-you-must-not-be-bitter-bitterness-is-like-cancer/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [When people go get chemo, they're not injecting themselves with will - I have lost various loved ones to cancer, and I certainly don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-c-hall/when-people-go-get-chemo-they-re-not-injecting-themselves-with-will-i/) [Michael C. Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-c-hall/) > [“the doctor hesitated before breaking the news to her. "those aren't stars. it's cancer." - forty years a smoker”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amanda-lovelace/the-doctor-hesitated-before-breaking-the-news-to-her-those-aren-t/) [Amanda Lovelace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amanda-lovelace/) > [I loved you to the moon and back](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taylor-swift/i-loved-you-to-the-moon-and-back/) [Taylor Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taylor-swift/) > [The risk of developing carcinoma of the lung increases steadily as the amount smoked increases. If the risk among non-smokers is taken as unity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-doll/the-risk-of-developing-carcinoma-of-the-lung-increases-steadily-as/) [Richard Doll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-doll/) > [I would do away with super PACs. I think it's a cancer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kent-conrad/i-would-do-away-with-super-pacs-i-think-it-s-a-cancer/) [Kent Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kent-conrad/) > [Aging is like enlightenment at gunpoint. Before I had cancer, I lived my life for my art. After I had cancer, I lived my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-halprin/aging-is-like-enlightenment-at-gunpoint-before-i-had-cancer-i-lived/) [Anna Halprin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-halprin/) > [If you are a white male, you don't deserve to live. You are a cancer, you're a disease, white males have never contributed anything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noel-ignatiev/if-you-are-a-white-male-you-don-t-deserve-to-live-you-are-a-cancer/) [Noel Ignatiev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noel-ignatiev/) > [The way I look at it is, cancer research is absolutely nonpartisan. Cancer is very democratic in the sense that it attacks people regardless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-h-koch/the-way-i-look-at-it-is-cancer-research-is-absolutely-nonpartisan/) [David H. Koch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-h-koch/) [Browse all 3,177 Cancer quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cancer/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“If you look at all the vitamin studies done on more than a thousand people in the last few decades, almost all of them have shown an increased risk of cancer. Some of these results were statistical, but some were not. The body likes to create free radicals to attack bad cells, including cancerous ones. If you block that mechanism by taking copious vitamins, especially those touted as antioxidants, you block your body’s natural ability to control itself. You block a physiological process. 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