2024-07-09 16:48:28
Multivitamin supplements are supposed to keep you healthy and prolong your life, but they seem to be a waste of money.
Three out of four Germans take nutritional supplements. The most common are vitamin supplements. But what is supposed to make life healthier and longer may have no effect at all or even have the opposite effect.
This is the conclusion of a large-scale US study. Researchers at the National Institute of Health in Rockville, Maryland, investigated whether and how daily intake of multivitamin supplements affects the risk of death.
The study is based on data from over 390,000 subjects without a history of cancer or other chronic diseases. They provided information on their daily consumption of multivitamin supplements. The observation period was 20 years.
During this time, almost half of the participants died (164,762). Statistically speaking, those who took multivitamin supplements every day had a four percent increased risk of death. Their risk of the main causes of death, cardiovascular disease and cancer, was also increased by four percent.
Study leader Erikka Loftfield summarizes: “We found no evidence that healthy adults who regularly take multivitamin supplements have a longer life expectancy.”
As early as 2022, a study evaluation by the US Preventive Services Task Force looked at the effects of taking multivitamin supplements on the development of cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Even then, it was concluded that there was insufficient evidence to assess this and determine a benefit-risk ratio.
However, the researchers of the current study point out that it is important to evaluate multivitamin supplement use and the risk of death in different population groups, for example in people with proven nutrient deficiencies.