TORONTO — Taking multivitamins or other commonly consumed vitamin and mineral supplements won’t actually provide you any health benefits, but they won’t harm you either, a new study finds.
Researchers from the University of Toronto and St. Michael’s Hospital conducted a review of 179 studies on popular vitamin supplements that were published between January 2012 and October 2017. Studies covered a vast spectrum of supplements, including vitamins A, B1, B2, B3 (niacin), B6, B9 (folic acid), C, D and E; and mineral supplements β-carotene; calcium; iron; zinc; magnesium; and selenium. Multivitamins that contained a wide variety of the vitamins and minerals were also reviewed.
The research team concluded that the most commonly consumed supplements — multivitamins, vitamin D, calcium, and vitamin C — had no effect on a person’s risk of suffering a heart attack stroke, heart disease, or early death.
“We were surprised to find so few positive effects of the most common supplements that people consume,” notes Dr. David Jenkins, the study’s lead author, in a statement. “Our review found that if you want to use multivitamins, vitamin D, calcium or vitamin C, it does no harm – but there is no apparent advantage either.”
The only supplements that showed any benefit among the studies were folic acid or B-vitamins that contained B6, B12, and folic acid, which could lower one’s risk of heart disease and stroke. Folic acid alone showed a 20 percent lowered risk of stroke. Conversely, the review found that niacin and antioxidants had a “very small” effect that could potentially raise the risk of death from any cause.
The authors say it’s best to stick to a healthy diet that includes plenty of fruits and vegetables which naturally provide our bodies with vitamins and minerals.
“In the absence of significant positive data – apart from folic acid’s potential reduction in the risk of stroke and heart disease – it’s most beneficial to rely on a healthy diet to get your fill of vitamins and minerals,” says Dr. Jenkins. “So far, no research on supplements has shown us anything better than healthy servings of less processed plant foods including vegetables, fruits and nuts.”
Jenkins says it’s important that people be aware of what types of supplements they’re taking and to always consult a doctor, particularly if they have any specific deficiencies.
“These findings suggest that people should be conscious of the supplements they’re taking and ensure they’re applicable to the specific vitamin or mineral deficiencies they have been advised of by their healthcare provider,” adds Jenkins.
According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, in 2012, it was estimated that 52 percent of the population were taking supplements.
The full study was published in the June 5, 2018 edition of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. It was funded by the Canada Research Chair Endorsement, Loblaw Cos. Ltd., and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.
Some vitamins are not taken for the specific ailments they named. This study is trash- I take biotin and my hair is no longer grey- it literally changed the color of my hair! I take black pepper and turmeric and it worked to end leg cramping associated with running. This type of study is helpful for big pharma and I do not trust them.
If Big Pharma has a chemical compound to stop leg cramps it will come with a three page warning of how it could destroy your liver and kidneys … but don’t worry, if your doctor ( who likely is getting kick backs and incentives from Big Pharma) recommends it people assume it’s a good thing to be taking … look at all the independent studies on statins proving how dangerous they are – but people go on taking them so Big Pharma and their doctors get rich .., heck, how about the drugstore will pay you $10 to take a flu shot – sure they are ineffective- but Big Pharma gets rich on them ….
“Ask Your Doctor If ‘Damitol’ Is Right For YOU”; Kickbacks, Aside.
Both black pepper and tumeric are nothing but chemical compounds.
Potassium also stops leg cramps.
“The full study was published in the June 5, 2018 edition of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. It was funded by the Canada Research Chair Endorsement, Loblaw Cos. Ltd., and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.”
http://www.loblaw.ca/en.html
every runner eats bananas for this very reason
You know this study comes right from Big Pharma, Big Pharma who has been lobbying for years to smash the vitamin competition… if they can’t patent it and become richer from it – they seek to destroy it.
Do not take mult vitamns – they likely are useless if you buy the drugstore brands that don’t even breakdown in your gut.
Take Vitamin D – lots of it, take vitamin c – those two alone can save you from high medical bills. There was a time when high doses of Vitamin D proved so effective in keeping people healthy the Rockefeller Mefical Industrial Complex made a big move against it and lowered the recommended dosage to such a paltry low dose it was ineffective..
My guess is this study was based on the recommended low dosages of these vitamins that are useless by the MIC design …. what you really need to avoid in all that Big Pharma poison … the cures are in nature ….
I do think the multi-vitamin pills are likely a waste of money. I do take 4,000 IU of D per day, as well as frequent vitamin C and B-complex.
You need to take D and C together
and a higher dose of D-3. I take at least 20,000 IU of D-3 a day.
Yikes! That’s a lot.
The higher doses of D and C are better .. if you take too much of C you might expect diarrhea as a side effect .. but it takes a lot …
“The full study was published in the June 5, 2018 edition of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. It was funded by the Canada Research Chair Endorsement, Loblaw Cos. Ltd., and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.”
http://www.loblaw.ca/en.html
Who funds the Canadian Institutes of Health – Big Pharma?
Unbelievable bias. Do I smell a pharmaceutical company in this?
If it smells like pig shlt… must be Big Pharma News ….
How about all those miracle herbal supplements being peddled to us all the time ? Turns out they’re all made from the same herbs but claim to cure almost everything…
Such As? You State No Facts, Whatsoever: Blocked For Trolling.
Ski long time.
Write gibberish no more!
BLOCKED for being part of the problem.
Whatever.
Oh no, not again! Back and forth, back and forth. One study says they help, another says no. Is there ANYTHING definitive?
Consuming health supplements does do some harm. It damages your finances at the level of how many of these things you purchase.
Coming from a troll for criminal Big Pharma that is doing massive damage to everyone’s finances that’s pretty funny …
I have tons of research on my own family. We all perform better and don’t get sick as much with vitamins. It’s pretty obvious when something genuinely works over a 30 year span.
That’s funny, I’ve been taking supplements since the mid-60’s, and am in perfect health with only an under active thyroid which is the only medication I take along with a low dose of a bp pill. For someone my age, that is an epic achievment. I never had a flu shot in my life, and haven’t ever gotten the flu except once in the 60’s when the Asian Flu was going around and people were dropping like flies. Cured it with Ginger tea. Rarely get a cold and if I do, it’s gone in a couple of days, not the usual 10 days.
These “studies” are bs and have an agenda.
“The full study was published in the June 5, 2018 edition of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. It was funded by the Canada Research Chair Endorsement, Loblaw Cos. Ltd., and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.”
http://www.loblaw.ca/en.html
That is TOTAL BULL CRAP! My wife had sky high BP over 180 and over 100 systolic, The doctors gave her all kinds of DRUGS with serious side effects. I found out Vitamin D works for BP, got her on Vitamin D and BP dropped like a rock! AMA IS A SCAM AND SO IS BIG PHARMA.
this article brought to you by the “pharma industry”
just ask your Dr
Telling you, that marketed vitamins and supplements have little or no benefit is not a study outcome that Big Pharma would want to promote. What are you talking about? Perhaps I should regard your comment as shilling for the CMA or AMA.
‘Big Pharma’ Cannot Control, Or Profit, From Supplements. They Fund, And Fudge,
‘Studies’, Time After Time, In An Attempt To ‘Prove’ Their False Position. Credibility?
ZERO. If Ever Given The Chance, Attend A “Drug Lunch”, At Any Given Hospital.
Codex and the UN is right now trying to ban supplements so I would expect fake news to be full of more of these fake studies programming in preparation for the humanity hating communist UN to launch new attacks at the behest of these diabolical Big Pharma companies ..
the reason you see non stop ads for Big Pharma drugs on Tel-A-Vision is because Big Pharm knows if they dump enough money into TV stations the fake news will never cover any stories telling the truth about Big Pharma and their tainted vaccines and brain killing antidepressants despite massive evidence …
Here is a study from Lancet that says the exact opposite: https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/83/3/567/4607492
There are lots of other studies that support antioxidant use. Further: a recent news story reported that patients dying from septicemia have been miraculously saved by IV injection of high-dose ascorbic acid (+ thiamine and cortisone): reduced fatality rate from 40% to 8.5 %. https://pulmccm.org/critical-care-review/vitamin-c-save-lives-sepsis/ and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28934705. Perhaps the patients would not have gotten sepsis if their vitamin C levels had been higher, in the first place. Yes, who funded this latest slice of baloney?
So; when my doctor told me my magnesium level was low and recommended a supplement – and my next checkup showed my magnesium level to be perfect – that’s ‘no benefit?’
No, it means you didn’t have enough Mag. in your regular diet.
I always get my health advice from fake news. You should too.
Any ‘information’ coming from a country with nationalized/socialist/rationed healthcare is inherently bad. I am surprised more people aren’t attacking the pharmaceutical and insurance companies or their employees for ruining health care. A few hundred employees contract a terminal disease or a couple of buildings burn down and their operational policy will change.
Big Pharma, Rockefeller Medical Industrial Complex, and Greedy Insurance Companies have destroyed health care … it is now little more than a cruel dehumanizing giant profit center for those who destroy health and prey on humanity ….
RE: Big Pharma Propaganda
Too phony.
Late last year I began taking additional Vitamin-D. On top of my daily aspirin and multi-vitamin. An additional 10,000 units on a daily basis.
I’ve got Type-2 Diabetes. So I track my vital stats daily. I keep the information in a database I developed using FileMaker Pro. The IMMEDIATE effect of boosting my Vitamin-D was my daily reads of blood pressure DROPPED SIGNIFICANTLY.
Blood pressure is a significant factor in heart disease and strokes. And these people claim there’s “NO EFFECT”? LIARS!
Think of all the blood pressure medications that are pushed by Big Pharma and their medical industry accomplices. If more people took these natural means of keeping healthy the Pharmicological-Medical Industrial Complex would lose money. While people saved their lives.
God rebuke these people.
Big Pharma and Big Herba make most of the vitamins used in the US.
RE: The Battle Between
Which do you think is healthier?
Which has fewer adverse ‘side effects’?
Ever notice how the ads for Big Pharma products advice about ‘side effects’? Or give warnings?
Healthy organic food and high quality supplements are key to good health … at the very least you should be supplementing with high doses of D and C , small doses of iodine, B vitamins and magnesium…. don’t forget the magnesium … and if you are overly tired you might try a quarter teaspoon of Himalayan salt mixed in with your drink everyday ….and simple and cheap sodium bicarbonate for lower inflammation….
Stay away fro GMO food, Big Pharma chemicals and the Rockefeller Medical Industrial Complex …and most of all SUGAR ..,
Live a long and healthy life!!!
Your cold cereal in the morning has all the vitamins you need, including b6, b12 and Folic Acid. Taking an additional multivitamin would be a waste of money.
RE: Heh
Better read my report on boosting your Vitamin-D….. ????
Unless you use water in your cereal, one serving of milk and your cereal has 65% of all the vitamin D you need daily. Add a little sunlight, and perhaps a glass of milk before bedtime, and you’ll get all the Vitamin D you need.
I guess you did read my report…. ????
No I didn’t. I just know some health facts. By the way, what report??
Read my comment….
….at http://disq.us/p/1sv48gp
See who paid for the study. Follow the money. There is always a bias these days. These things didn’t make an appreciable different for stroke or heart attack? What about weak bones (Calcium)? Or general malaise (B12), or heart HEALTH (CoQ10), or simply quality of life? What ever happened to performing studies where there wasn’t a bias? Doctors/hospitals don’t want patients to cure themselves.
Please Canada, be smarter than Americans. The study saying vitamins don’t help has pharmaceutical funding behind it. Whenever you read a study about health, look who paid for the study. And trust your own experiences. I am more energetic and resilient when I take vitamins.