Those 'Multi-Vitamins' May Have No Real Health Benefit

It turns out your mother was right when she told you to eat your veggies.

A new report out this week shows that the most popular multi-vitamins played no role in reducing a person’s risk for cardiovascular disease, heart attack, stroke or premature death.

Dr. Fred Campbell at U.T. Health San Antonio says the debate over supplements have been around since they hit the market.

"The basic science is that with a well-balanced diet, we receive absolute every nutrient we need," he tells Newsradio 1200 WOAI.

Researchers from the University of Toronto and St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto ran trials between January 2012 and October 2017. The findings showed some of the most common supplements either provided no benefit or actually increased risk in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, heart attack, stroke or premature death.

"We were surprised to find so few positive effects of the most common supplements that people consume," said lead author Dr. David Jenkins. "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."

Dr. Campbell says there are exceptions for people with food allergies and for pregnant mother.  They're still counseled to take folic acid.  Other than that, he says you're flushing money down the toilet.

"The misconception is that there is a magic pill can prevent us from having heart disease, strokes and cancer," he says.  "Never have we proven that supplements can do that."


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