The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association this week, revealed that the longterm benefits of taking these vitamins is uncertain, despite the billions of dollars the industry sees each year.
14,641 male physicians aged, on average, 64 were randomly assigned to take either a placebo or a multivitamin. Howard Sesso, epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard University in Boston, explains the results of the study:
“Among this population of U.S. male physicians, taking a daily multivitamin did not reduce major cardiovascular events, myocardial infarctions, stroke and cardiovascular disease mortality after more than a decade of treatment and followup,” he says in the conclusion of the study.
“Whether to take a daily multivitamin requires consideration of an individual’s nutritional status, because the aim of supplementation is to prevent vitamin and mineral deficiency, plus consideration of other potential effects, including a modest reduction in cancer and other important outcomes in Physicians’ Health Study II that will be reported separately.”
You can read the full study here: Journal of the American Medical Association
