on the broadcast tonight, are women at risk from all the vitamins and supplements we americans take? new research tonight raising questions and some concern. the worst outbreak of violence since the revolution in egypt. new and deadly protests in the streets of cairo. our own richard engel is back there tonight. matter of faith. a prominent preacher calls mitt romney's relion a cult. will romney publically defend it again? also, he's the target of a harsh attack on health care from rick perry. and is it true? you know the rules when you fly. turn off all electronic devices. do they really affect flying? in our reality check tonight, we'll ask the experts once and for all. we'll ask the experts once and for all. "nightly news" begins now.

captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. they are so ubiquitous and advertised so heavily that the unmistakable message is this -- there is a vitamin or supplement out there for you no matter your gender, your hair color, your lifestyle and they all contain good things for good health. while all that is largely true, there is something else that especially women should know. they are not without their dangers and risks. in fact, there is new research just out tonight that women who take supplements, including multi vitamins appear to have slightly higher death rates, believe it or not. and while there is lots more research that needs to be done, this could cause a lot of women to rethink what they are taking. we want to begin our coverage tonight with our chief science correspondent robert bazell.

>> reporter: more than two-thirds of americans, 70% of women, take vitamins and/or supplements. it adds up to a $28 billion a year industry. but the latest study says not so fast, at least for older women. researchers followed more than 38,000 women average age 61 for 19 years. they found higher death rates in those taking multi vitamins, vitamin b-6, folic acid, zinc, magnesium, copper and iron. researchers emphasize they can't say why. >> we saw an increased risk of total mortality, but we don't really know what is the reason. >> reporter: calcium was associated with a lower death rate. nancy has been taking a variety of vitamins and supplements for most of her life. >> i don't think we get the nutrition we need from the foods we eat. >> reporter: many researchers point out however they are advertised most vitamins and supplements are medically necessary only for people who

have deficiencies from what they get in their diet. >> vitamin insufficiencies are rare in the united states. we tend to overeat. >> reporter: no one involved in nutrition research believes this one study will be the last word on the subject. other studies have not shown the same level of risk. the industry association representing supplement and vitamin makers points that out. in a statement adds, the study may make for interesting scientific water cooler discussion, but certainly does not warrant sweeping, overstated concerns for elderly women. still, many experts say this and other research points to the need for people to talk to their doctors about what vitamins and supplements they really need. robert bazell, nbc news, chicago. with us here in the studio for more on this, dr. tanya beneson, doctor of internal medicine in new york and our nbc medical director as well. doctor, when a patient comes to

you and says, should i take a multi vitamin, what are the conditions? do you ask the patient a series of questions? >> i think a multi vitamin for anybody is fine. it's a great safety net. it's when we get into excessive mega doses of things when you're not deficient, that's where the problem starts. you have to do extensive history, lab analysis before you start supplementing individual items people are doing on their own. >> overall, the brands we all know, a multi vitamin supplement like the woman in the set-up piece says, it doesn't seem like we are getting enough nutrition from our on the go meals and diet these days. that seems about right. >> it's fine to take the multi vitamin. think about the juices, fortified foods. you have to be careful. especially the metals, iron, zinc, copper. just because a little bit is good for you doesn't mean more is better. people seem to lose that. it's not regulated well, so people tend to overtake vitamins. that's the problem here.

>> like everything else, moderation and consult your doctor. >> exactly. >> which we just did. dr. tanya beneson. thank you very much for being here with us. we now turn from our top medical story to the middle east. it was just over eight months ago when we arrived in egypt where the mubarak regime was coming apart before our eyes right there in tahrir square. it included an explosion of violence, one part of the arab spring as it became known. from those high hopes back then, fast forward to tonight's headline from there. another explosion of violence and a rising death toll. tonight our chief foreign correspondent richard engel is back in cairo with the latest. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. egypt's transition to democracy hasn't been smooth or peaceful. and now, the violence over the past 24 hours has many egyptians questioning whether their revolution was successful after all. >> reporter: this wasn't what the revolution was supposed to bring.

funerals after a massacre last night of christians by egypt's, mainly muslim army. it started yesterday evening with a peaceful demonstration. christians, 10% of the population here were demanding justice after one of their churches was burned down last week by increasingly aggressive islamic radicals. when the demonstrators reached central cairo, government troops, witnesses say, attacked. military vehicles plowed through crowds. the demonstrators responded, attacking troops with stones. soldiers opened fire, killing 25. even as some christians formed a human shield around one soldier to protect him from angry crowds. in a hospital today, we found two young men, one hit by an army truck, the other shot. both insist the army killed unarmed civilians. protesters are still gathered tonight in front of the hospital where the bodies of the christian demonstrators were taken.

many of these people say egypt's revolution has brought in a period of chaos and empowered islamic extremists leaving egypt's christian minority under threat and now under attack. christians told us the revolution has failed. the army is helping the islamic groups. adding to the distrust, the ruling military tried to cover up last night's violence. state tv claimed it was the army that was attacked by christians. it played patriotic music and scenes of muslim christian harmony, even as clashes continued in front of the station's own headquarters. local tv stations that showed the violence were taken off the air. today, islamic radicals with knives and sticks surrounded a car in cairo, allegedly driven by a christian, and beat him. raising even more questions about what the egyptian revolution has unleashed.

the military says the violence won't derail elections scheduled to start in seven weeks and that the transition from military to civilian rule will go ahead. brian? >> richard engel back in cairo tonight. richard, thanks. now from the unrest in egypt to the protests in the streets here at home. tonight we have another. update on this growing protest under the banner occupy wall street. protesters occupied more real estate this weekend. motivated by the income gap and discontent in a bad economy. nbc's mara schiavocampo has the latest for us from lower manhattan tonight. good evening. >> reporter: good evening. today demonstrations continue in cities across the country including here in new york where protesters were joined by new, younger voices. >> european history.

>> reporter: from school -- ♪ >> reporter: -- to the streets. on day 24 of the occupy wall street protests, demonstrators were joined by a group of students on their day off. >> i want to make the world to be a better place. >> reporter: teachers rallied, too. >> our children have no arts curriculum. they play on a postage stamp sized playyard once a week. >> reporter: groups gathered from boston to atlanta voicing anger about what they call an unfair economic system. >> we are here for the long haul. if we have to stay for a here, we'll be here for a year. >> reporter: over the weekend at the national air and space museum in washington, youtube video shows protesters targeted with pepper spray. in des moines, iowa, 30 arrested for gathering at the capitol and in atlanta, perhaps a sign of anger toward washington. video posted online shows congressman and civil rights activist john lewis denied the right to speak. the growing demonstrations are increasingly made up of more than young idealists, attracting people like 67-year-old pat

reed. >> my life savings was invested in real estate and the stock market. now i have nothing. >> reporter: now, backing from a major company. ben & jerry's posting a message to protesters on their website saying, we stand with you. experts say while broad support is important it's time for occupy wall street to define what they are fighting for. >> for this movement to be effective, they have to focus on the one thing that matters to most americans right now. that's jobs. >> reporter: and the movement is getting a lot of financial support as well. here alone, organizers say they are bringing in $5,000 to $6,000 in cash every day. brian? >> mara schiavocampo, lower manhattan tonight. thanks. on the political front, jobs and the economy took a back seat to religion this past weekend as top republican presidential candidate mitt romney answered

harsh attacks on his mormon faith. some of which he has heard and addressed before. our chief white house correspondent chuck todd has our report. >> reporter: mitt romney today in new hampshire trying to maintain his front-runner status. but an attack over the weekend on his mormon faith injected a potentially toxic new tone in the campaign. >> mitt romney is a good, moral person, but he's not a christian. mormonism is not christianity. it has always been considered a cult by the main stream of christianity. >> reporter: romney addressed the issue of his faith in the last campaign and said such attacks damage the republican party. >> poisonous language doesn't advance our cause. it's never softened a single heart nor changed a single mind. >> reporter: a message for christians is how christ fits into mormonism. mormons believe in salvation through jesus the book of mormon expands on the fundamental

christian teachings of the bible. >> anybody who reads the book of mormon or reads the teachings of the mormon church, if they are an orthodox christian they will say this is not apostle's creed, nicene creed, standard boilerplate christianity. >> reporter: there is a new perry attack ad. >> i'm a conservative businessman. [ thunder ] >> time and again they have pointed to the massachusetts law as the model for obama care. >> i agree with mitt romney. >> reporter: while not yet running as a paid ad on tv, it got romney's attention today. >> you will find in a campaign like this that people running against me are going to take what i have said and try to turn it against me to say something else. >> reporter: while perry and romney spar as if it is a two-man race there is a third candidate surging. former godfather's pizza ceo herman cain. >> i'm ready for the gotcha questions. they are already starting to come. when they ask who the president of ubekibekikedekistanstan is, i

will say, i don't know. do you know? and then i'm going to say, how is that going to create one job? >> reporter: cain may not have held public office but he has another kind of experience. his atlanta talk radio archives. >> this is herman cain. >> reporter: he fronted a nightly talk show for three years starting in early 2008. >> i had a caller one night who asked the question, what do you mean by take back our government? i simply mean that our government has been hijacked by ultraliberals. >> reporter: cain gets a new seat at tomorrow's debate, center stage. the question is unlike other conservative shooting stars of the campaign, can he stay there? chuck todd, nbc news, washington. >> briefly from the political world to the naturalorld, a big weathermaker hitting charleston and the south carolina coast especially hard. before it's over this one will have stretched from the tip of r florida all the way to the new york/canada border. out west, a big hurricane on the pacific coast of mexico.

jova is expected to make land fall tomorrow as a category three, a sizable storm. up next as "nightly news" continues on a monday night, is it true? do electronic devices really interfere with the aircraft? why do we have to turn them off? tonight we'll put the question to the experts. later, a sign of the times. a small business operator struggling in a tough economy gets a big boost from the people he serves. the customers who decided for a fundamental reason to give back.

okay. anybody who flies knows the drill. turn off all electronic devices during takeoff and landing. but how many times have you cheated, really, secretly tapped out a text or an e-mail when you think the coast is clear and how

many times have you paused to ask yourself, what harm does it really do? well, we have wondered about that ourselves. so we asked tom costello who covers aviation for us to look into it. >> reporter: travel on any airline, any destination. the message is the same. >> there are certain electronic devices that can interfere with the aircraft's navigational system and may not be used at any time. >> reporter: can mobile devices really interfere with an aircraft's radios or sensitive electronics? >> i don't think an iphone can bring down an airplane. >> reporter: the answer is maybe. at a boeing test center in seattle engineers laid out a variety of mobile devices for us then scanned for interference. within seconds noise from the devices showed up in red. >> you see a lot more interference. >> reporter: that interference is coming from the video screens and internal computer chips, not cell transmitters. turning on a cell phone creates bigger headaches. >> if the signal couples onto wiring it may affect an aircraft's system. we worked on this issue for about five years. >> reporter: boeing's dave carson chaired an investigative committee that included

airlines, manufacturers and the government, looking at electronic interference. is there any evidence that electronics have ever contributed to a crash or a serious incident? >> there is no conclusive evidence. there are stories that when followed through we have been unable to prove. >> reporter: investigators in new zealand suspect but never proved a pilot's cell phone call home may have caused his plane to crash in 2003, killing eight. other pilots reported navigational equipment problems until passengers turned off their devices. it's not just the electronics on the flight deck that are a concern. a modern aircraft has antenna and wiring above, below and throughout that could be vulnerable. while today's aircraft are tested and certified to withstand some electronic interference, safety demands little to no interference during takeoff and landing. >> all cell phones in the off position. >> reporter: the potential for interference at just the wrong moment.

tom costello, nbc news, seattle. >> we'll take a break. when we come back in a moment, the news from netflix today deciding the customer was right.

his next birthday will be his 70th. while paul mccartney has had more yesterdays than he'll have tomorrows and while the golden years for him will differ from other folks', at least sir paul mccartney is once again a happily married man. he married his long-time girlfriend, nancy shevell, a businesswoman who is barbara walters's second cousin, by the way. they married in london on what would have been john lennon's 71st birthday. speaking of london, big ben is leaning. the top of the spire is about a foot and a half out of plumb and while it was never perfectly straight, thanks to some inexact victorians, it's gotten worse to the point where some tourists who take pictures of it notice it's not perfectly straight. researchers say the ground is

shifting beneath it, and it may soon be visible to the naked eye. consumers spoke. netflix listened. they have caved in to pressure against the plan to put their dvd business on a new website named quickster. they say they will stay in one piece and they are done with the price hikes. you know how the new iphone 4s came out and was panned because it wasn't a spanking new iphone 5 as some expected? and then steve jobs died one day later and some people felt bad? well, consumers have richly rewarded apple once again. first day preorders for the new iphone were over a million. that tops all previous records. up next as we continue here, a small business owner gets in trouble and then admits why and is richly rewarded for it.

next at 6:00, san jose's police chief is in studio to talk about a rash of officer-involved shootings. also, virtual reality becomes the new reality for soldiers. we'll show you the aa are technology. and more rain in the forecast, next at 6:00. finally tonight there are so many businesses struggling because the economy is in the tank. some are victims and others have

problem businesses. admitting that can be tough. when the going got tough for a small business owner in a community outside chicago, when he chose honesty, the customers chose to reward him. the story tonight from nbc's ron allen. >> reporter: nick's pizza is a place where families bring the kids. you can throw the peanut shells on the floor. and everyone was stunned when owner rick cirillo announced he was facing foreclosure and was on the verge of shutting down. >> you could see the end coming. it was scary. >> reporter: he sent his customers this desperate e-mail. believe me. i have already tried everything possible. my final request is for each of you to come to nick's now and tell as many people as possible to come now. >> i have always been a go-getter. i didn't know what to do. >> reporter: ironically his problems started when times were good. he expanded the business, hired more people expecting the

community to grow. then recession and foreclosure stopped all that and people also stopped buying pizza. but then that e-mail, sent to some 16,000 customers went viral. and it looked like most of them showed up. >> it went out tuesday afternoon. tuesday night we were packed. >> when he sent out the e-mail bob sent it to me, to carl, to rob. >> it's just something that tugs at our heart strings that we want to do. >> reporter: business doubled for the week, helping him pay bills, for now. >> is that for me? really? >> reporter: 4-year-old harper even gave him five quarters from her piggy bank. >> we read the e-mail. i talked to the kids about it. she really took it to heart. >> how could you not be inspired by the guests, the turnout? it's truly amazing. >> reporter: while he has not solved all his money woes, nick is one small business getting a big boost and serving up a lot of pizza.

ron allen, nbc news, crystal lake, illinois. >> that's our broadcast for this monday night as we start a new week. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com right now at 6:00, another officer-involved shooting in the south bay. tonight, san jose's police chief is in studio with us to talk about the rise in violence. good evening and thanks for joining us on this monday. i'm raj mathai. >> and i'm jessica aguirre. san jose police shot and killed a suspect in a neighborhood south of downtown this morning, sparking cries of what's going on, it used to be the nation's safest big cities. >> here are the details. san p