A new study from the National Institutes of Health finds that there’s no evidence that taking a daily multivitamin helps you live longer.
The study, published June 26 in JAMA Network Open, analyzed nearly 400,000 healthy adults over 20 years and found that “the use of multivitamins to extend lifespan is not supported.”
Surprisingly, not only did people who took multivitamins not live longer, but they were 4% more likely to die than those who did not take them, but the researchers did not analyze data from people who had pre-existing vitamin deficiencies.
“What this study shows is that multivitamins, in general, don’t help you live longer,” Dr. Jade A. Coburn, a board-certified pediatrician and general preventive medicine physician, told ABC News. “While many multivitamins aren’t expensive, it’s still an expense that many people can save.”
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Instead, Covert told the outlet that it’s best to get your vitamins from food rather than supplements.
“We could all benefit from including more vegetables, whole grains and legumes in our diets, eating less red meat, reducing sedentary time and reducing alcohol consumption,” she said.
However, people who are at risk for vitamin deficiencies may need supplements, so it’s important to discuss your health history and multivitamin use with your healthcare provider.
“There’s data that suggests that taking a multivitamin, for example, can help reduce cognitive decline associated with aging, meaning things like memory loss, and there’s also evidence that macular degeneration, for example, can be prevented with certain vitamins,” Dr. Celine Gunder told CBS News. “So it depends on what you’re looking at. Are you looking at mortality, risk of death? Are you looking at other specific disease outcomes? And so again, I think for certain populations, taking vitamins could make sense.”
