Study Finds Popular Vitamin And Mineral Supplements Are Useless

A new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology reveals that you may be wasting your money on vitamin and mineral supplements. According to the study, most of these supplements provide neither consistent health benefits or harm, at least when it comes to heart attacks, heart disease, strokes, and premature death.

The study looked at the most common supplements: vitamin C, vitamin D, calcium, and multivitamins, among others. None of these showed an advantage when it comes to the aforementioned health issues, nor any increased risk associated with them. To put it simply, the study's lead author Dr. David Jenkins said:

We were surprised to find so few positive effects of the most common supplements that people consume. 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.

That's an unfortunate conclusion for individuals who take these supplements to boost the vitamins and minerals acquired from food. The only glimmer of a positive effect came from folic acid, which showed the potential for reducing the risk of stroke and heart disease, as did B vitamins.

However, antioxidants and niacin demonstrated "a very small effect" that the researchers say could indicate an increased risk of dying from any given cause. Rather than taking these supplements to get necessary nutrients, individuals are advised to eat unprocessed or minimally processed fruits, vegetables, and nuts.

SOURCE: St. Michael's