Major press outlets have been pushing a highly negative narrative about Multivitamins such as:
“Multivitamins are a waste of money for most people”
“Multivitamins continue to disappoint”
“Multivitamins and Supplements—Benign Prevention or Potentially Harmful Distraction?”
A key theme the press pushes is that people who take multiple vitamins use them to attempt to compensate for unhealthy lifestyle practices like smoking, drinking excessive alcohol, taking drugs, etc. Is this true?
The answer is NO!. The overwhelming majority people take multivitamins as an addition to a healthy lifestyle. A study looking at the health habits of nutrition supplement users concluded that:
“Dietary supplements are used by half to two-thirds of American adults, and the evidence suggests that this usage is one component of a larger effort to develop a healthier lifestyle. Dietary supplement users tend on average to be better educated and to have somewhat higher incomes than nonusers, and these factors may contribute to their health-consciousness. Dietary supplement use also tends to be more prevalent among women than among men, and the prevalence of use increases with age in both men and women. Numerous surveys document that users of dietary supplements are significantly more likely than nonusers to have somewhat better dietary patterns, exercise regularly, maintain a healthy weight, and avoid tobacco products. While supplement users tend to have better diets than nonusers, the differences are relatively small, their diets have some substantial nutrient shortfalls, and their supplement use has been shown to improve the adequacy of nutrient intakes. Overall, the evidence suggests that users of dietary supplements are seeking wellness and are consciously adopting a variety of lifestyle habits that they consider to contribute to healthy living.”
The press also frequently publishes articles stating that nutrition supplements either do not work or that they are dangerous. Is this true?
In almost every case when you look at these studies you find a number of factors which negate their validity and usefulness including:
Many are sponsored by drug companies who design the study to deliberately prove a supplement does not work. For example, the Cosmos Trial sponsored by Pfizer used Centrum Multivitamin to examine how this multivitamin affected cancer risk. The problem is that Centrum is uses inferior forms of many nutrient forms while also using far from optimal doses. All that can be concluded from this “research” is that Centrum did not affect cancer outcomes.
As to Nutrition supplements being dangerous – that is a VERY misleading statement. Let’s look at the facts – not the hype!
To put the danger of nutrition supplements into perspective consider that drug overdoses currently kill over 85,000 Americans each year. Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Medications like aspirin and ibuprofen alone routinely kill over 7,000 people every year. Opioids alone account for 50,000 deaths and are the leading cause of death for Americans under 50 years of age!
Now what about deaths from nutritional supplements?
According to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, which has been tracking supplement and drug issues for over three decades, there have been 13 alleged deaths from vitamins in 31 years! Let that sink in 13 in 31 years is less than 1 death per year compared to over 85,000 deaths from pharmaceuticals every year.
