In the hopes of staying healthy, many people turn to multivitamins as time goes on, hoping the right concoction will help to stave off heart disease or cancer 鈥� but according to new research, vitamins and supplements may not be doing much for the average adult.
Researchers at Northwestern Medicine in Illinois, U.S. have found that unless you are pregnant or using supplements to replace a deficiency on a doctor鈥檚 advice, vitamins are largely wasted on those who are otherwise healthy, according to a review of 84 studies.
鈥淧atients ask all the time, 鈥榃hat supplements should I be taking?鈥欌�� Dr. Jeffrey Linder, chief of general internal medicine in the department of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said
鈥淭hey鈥檙e wasting money and focus thinking there has to be a magic set of pills that will keep them healthy when we should all be following the evidence-based practices of eating healthy and exercising.鈥�
Nearly half of all Canadians had used at least one nutritional supplement within the last month in 2015, according to , with around two thirds of women in their 50s and up reporting that they had taken at least one in the last month.
For this new paper, researchers looked at studies assessing the benefits of various multivitamins, supplements and combinations of these, and published their results in an editorial in on Monday.
The desire to use vitamins and supplements makes sense, the editorial states, as many of these products have 鈥渁ntioxidative and anti-inflammatory effects鈥� that could, in theory, decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer risk.
But when you look at the current evidence, researchers say, there isn鈥檛 enough support to make it reasonable for the average adult to be buying these products consistently, as when there is a measurable impact, it is small. Researchers gave the example of a 65-year-old woman taking multivitamins for five to 10 years and seeing only a 0.5 per cent decrease in her already low risk of mortality within the next nine years.
Fruits and vegetables contain vitamins in a mix that works together to create those health benefits, the editorial explained, and the vitamins by themselves don鈥檛 have quite the same impact.
However, this doesn鈥檛 mean that they鈥檙e never helpful. For some people, they can be essential.
鈥淚n the right circumstances, supplements have health benefits,鈥� the editorial stated. 鈥淰itamin and mineral deficiencies cause myriad illnesses. For individuals who are or may soon become pregnant, folic acid is recommended to prevent neural tube defects and iron is recommended to prevent preterm birth and low birth weight, as well as improve fetal brain development.鈥�
Co-author Dr. Natalie Cameron, an instructor of general internal medicine at Feinberg, added in the release that prenatal vitamins are one of the most common ways that those who are pregnant receive vitamins such as folic acid.
鈥淢ore data is needed to understand how specific vitamin supplementation may modify risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes and cardiovascular complications during pregnancy,鈥� she said.
The research supports new recommendations made by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent body of experts that provides health care recommendations. The USPSTF advisory, published Monday, states that they recommend 鈥渁gainst the use of beta carotene or vitamin E supplements for the prevention of cardiovascular disease or cancer,鈥� and have found insufficient evidence for the benefits of multivitamins or any combination of multivitamins and supplements in relation to preventing these two conditions.
They stated specifically that there is no sign that beta carotene or vitamin E helps ward off cardiovascular disease or cancer.
鈥淭he task force is not saying 鈥榙on鈥檛 take multivitamins,鈥� but there鈥檚 this idea that if these were really good for you, we鈥檇 know by now,鈥� Linder said.
He added that supplements in particular can be a distraction from actual interventions that could help a patient cut down on cancer or heart disease risk.
鈥淭he harm is that talking with patients about supplements during the very limited time we get to see them, we鈥檙e missing out on counseling about how to really reduce cardiovascular risks, like through exercise or smoking cessation.鈥�
Researchers included 52 new studies in their review that came out since USPSTF last released recommendations in 2014.
The authors pointed out that while many see supplements as 鈥渁t worst, benign preventive products,鈥� they are not well regulated, and can be a distraction from actually productive interventions in diet and exercise.
鈥淭he substantial marketing budget of the supplement industry generates interest, attention, and billions of dollars in revenue,鈥� the study pointed out.
In Canada, while supplements, vitamins and herbal remedies are classed as 鈥淣atural Health Products鈥� (NHPs) according to Health Canada, and must be licenced and regulated, that there were significant gaps in the oversight of manufacturing and regulating for many products.
Health Canada, in response to this audit by the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, is proposing to improve labelling and address risk levels, with the first changes slated to be suggested this year.
