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.
More Fake News from sources not peer-reviewed. Someone is fishing for some grant money . . .
Hot Dog, what you eat does not affect your health in any way! I can eat only cake and candy from here on out!!!!
Wait a minute, common sense kicking in here, darn these people did not get it right…
Supplements that are unregulated should be avoided. They do nothing which is why they are allowed to be heavily advertised and sold.
The headline “No health benefits” vs the article stating ” had no effect on a person’s risk of suffering a heart attack, stroke, heart disease, or early death” isn’t the same. Effective or not, heart health is not primarily the reason people take supplements.
Bologna! The human body needs 90 Essential Vitimen’s and Minerals, and very little of them are found in the dead food we eat every day. All you “scientists” can skip the supplements and get back to me when you are 60 and full of disease and cancer!
Must be funded by big pharma, a hit piece on vitamins. Vitamin E is good for the heart, but they didn’t study that one.
And this just in by same researchers…vegetables and fruits don’t help or harm you either…sugar is the only trusted nutrient!
Thank you Mr. Soros and big pharma!
Do a study that shows the benefits for people that eat McDonalds, pizza and BK every night for dinner, or any other diet full of empty calories! These studies need to take in account people with poor diets. Thats the whole point of supplements morans.
Not taking them…eat right and live well…
I’ll bet you will take a drug, right? Eating well, not so much.
How were the ingredients they tested, obtained? Were they natural or synthetic?
ridiculous ! Of course vitamins help us. What a stupid study result. If your low vitamin D lab results are increased to a more positive level to where it should be is not good than that is nonsense to say they have no benefit.
Maybe if the food that was marketed to us as nutritious actually was nutritious we wouldn’t need multivitamin and mineral supplements. I suspect that many of the comfort foods are major contributors to increased diseases such as cancers; diabetes et al. Can we expect anything less when the people who control most of the wealth and resources have been publicly telling us since 1997 that they want to reduce global population up to 90% by any means necessary? The original statement included the cutoff date for this pogrom as 2025 but I understand it is now being touted as 2050. The catch is that after they’ve managed this there will be no exponential growth thereafter. Of course they intend to continue making maximum profit while doing so.
I read an article by an accredited doctor who claims the very same thing as this article. I decided to test his theory. I’m sixty-seven; don’t drink or smoke and I exercise two to three times a week including walking three miles to work during the week. I don’t eat fast foods or drink sodas or use sugar. Did I feel a difference over the three month omission of my daily supplemental regimen? You bet I did. I have since returned to my multivitamin and other supplemental additives and I feel much better.
BTW there’s a big difference between Vitamin D and Vitamin D3 which your body actually does need but all these studies seem to omit such details. Any supplement that suggests it can cure cancer or other major diseases should be objectively scrutinized. Vitamins and supplements should complement your daily diet – not replace it. Removing refined sugars; processed foods and things such as sodas should be the first step toward a healthy life style.
Big Pharma wants to control the supplemental markets just as they do the medical and pharmacological markets. It’s a major cash market.
Most of the foundations and think tanks are controlled by big business. Perhaps to summarize we should consider what Kissinger is alleged to have said: “Control the oil, you control the nations. Control the food supply, you control the people. Control the money and you control the world.”
This is what it’s all about and we’re nothing more than expendable assets.
Drugs provide you with death, just listen to their television commercials. Just remember, when you see these kind of articles you know Big Pharma is behind the lies. Oh, and remember, every year the pharmaceutical companies kill on average 150,000 people each year from doctor prescribed drugs. When you see the drug companies advertising, you will envision one large city wiped out in one Big Pharma death explosion.
Right. So now the Pharmaceutical companies are to blame for doctors inappropriately prescribing drugs. Pharma companies cannot write one prescription.
These statistics are for properly prescribed drugs. It used to be reported by all of the major news outlets, about 7 years ago they all diapered.
Well, then perhaps you should start your own pharma company and come up with medications with zero adverse reactions and no risks at all. You’d be a gazillionaire. With millions of people taking medications, yes, there will be some adverse reactions and some deaths of individuals taking prescription medications. The issue is always whether the benefits of any medication outweigh the risks. Further, many patients are medically fragile and have multiple risk factors, and simply because they die while taking a medication does not prove a causal relationship.
Some deaths, you are pathetic and obviously a big part of Pharma.
Yes, there will be some deaths with people taking medications, just as some people will die because they did NOT take a medication that might prolong their life. Try getting a severe asthma attack and not take your “big pharma” developed bronchodialator. Try running around with a 180/120 blood pressure and see how long you live. With your mentality, there would never be any new medications. You seem to have a severe and irrational paranoia about “big pharma”, and do not seem to understand how peer review clinical trials are designed and monitored.
Due to the unhealthy lifestyle of the American population at large, the average life expectancy in the US would be significantly lower in the absence of modern medications. You cannot force people to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and when they fail to do so, and develop heart disease, diabetes, and other life limiting diseases, medications can clearly prolong their lives. Certainly, pharma companies are not perfect, but they are not the demons you seem to think they are.
Spoiled milk in powdered form (Whey Protein) is no substitute for lean meats or eggs. For young trainers looking for a magic pill, it does not exist in those big buckets of expensive “fart” powder. The supplement “industry” is a scam that preys on young people with more cash than experience. The only thing that works like a steroid is a steroid. Eat a healthy, balanced diet and do some type of resistance training weekly. When your time is up, it’s up. No one gets out of life alive! ; – )
“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.”
So I am supposed to believe the stomach some how knows the difference between a pill and food. It absorbs one but not the other. Yet my IBuprofen absorbs quite nicely.
First paragraph is wrong, so why go beyond reading? In fact almost every article about this study seems to get it wrong.
“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.”
The study is about supplements and CVD, it doesn’t have a blanket pronouncement about “health benefits”
The irony is I always doubted just how a vit pill is going to do anything for you. If you eat a normal variety of food you should be fine. I happen to have relatives that there are so many things they dont eat however, maybe should take a truck load of vitamins. Hell a small baby aspirin a day does more for you then vit pill, assuming you can take aspirins.
I truly detest articles like this. So these supplements won’t stop “heart attack, stroke, heart disease, or early death?” And where has any claim been made that a multivitamin can prevent “heart attack, stroke, heart disease, or early death?” I understand these supplements also won’t “grow back missing appendages and cure Spina Bifida” either. Know why? Because it’s not what they’re designed for nor is any claim made to this end. You know what they CAN do? They can give you nutrients missing in your diet and provide all the benefits associated with proper vitamins and minerals in your system. Just to start, feel free to look up the consequences and diseases associated with various vitamin deficiencies: Scurvy, Rickets, Beriberi, and Pellagra just to name a few.
So – a Pharma funded “institute” found that nothing works but drugs. Amazing. I cannot believe the groundbreaking research.
Eat low-fat highly processed foods and taking large amounts of pharmaceuticals are the key to long life – just ask the food and pharma industry. They’ll tell you the truth.