You've taken a huge leap from taking pills, to taking vicodin, to taking multivitamins. You cannot compare taking vicodin to taking a multivitamin.
There are biochemical reasons for beta-carotene and vitamin E showing an increase in certain diseases.
Beta-carotene for one acts as a pro-oxidant in the lungs, hence why it increases lung cancer incidence in smokers. It doesn't put any 'strain' on your liver. What are we supposed to do, stop eating carrots, plums, peas, sweet potatoes and everything else with beta-carotene in because there's the slightest chance that I may just, maybe possibly have a HUGE 4% increase in risk of dying if I'm a smoker?
Studies like that are hugely unreliable since they rely on people following things properly. They also don't take into account other variables like diet, exercise and lifestyle which can have a huge effect on disease incidence, and also the forms of vitamins used can have a big effect on how they act in the body. Was the Vitamin E dl-alpha, d-alpha or alpha, beta and gamma? Reading a news article on the abstract of a meta-analysis doesn't tell you that.
Of course vitamins cannot replace a good diet, that's exactly why vitamins are SUPPLEMENTS because they SUPPLEMENT an already good diet. The people who rely on vitamins to cover up their crap diets are at increased risk of disease anyway. If they don't eat well it's highly likely that they don't exercise well and don't rest well and don't manage their stress properly.
Good luck on trying to get all your minerals from fruits.