If you’re taking a multivitamin to help you live longer, a new study by researchers at the National Cancer Institute may prompt you to reconsider. After analyzing health and nutritition data from nearly 400,000 Americans, the researchers found that people who took multivitamins had a small, but significantly greater risk of premature death than people who didn’t. Fond du Lac County Public Health Officer Kim Mueller says people who take multivitamins tend to do a lot of beneficial things like eating fruits and vegetables, getting regular exercise, and not smoking… making the pills seem more beneficial than they actually are. Mueller says on the other hand there’s the “sick user effect. In real world studies, this links the supplements to poorer health and tends to make them seem less helpful than they truly are. President of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine Dr. Neal Barnard says multi vitamins “overpromise and underdeliver.” Barnard says they took on this undeserved reputation as being an essential aspect of a healthy lifestyle.
