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Are Multivitamins Good For You?

What apparent effect does taking multivitamin supplement have on our lifespan?

January 28, 2011 |
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Supplementary Info

Are Multivitamins Good For You?, 5.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating

Sources Cited

M. L. Neuhouser, S.Wassertheil-Smoller, C. Thomson, A. Aragaki, G. L. Anderson, J. A. E. Manson, R. E. Patterson, T. E. Rohan, L. van Horn, J. M. Shikany, et al. Multivitamin use and risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease in the women's health initiative cohorts. Archives of Internal Medicine, 169(3):294, 2009.

Acknowledgements

Transcript

So some vitamins may make you live longer, some may make you live a shorter life. What if you put them all together. Do people who take multivitamin supplements live longer or shorter lives than those who don’t?
All just seems to cancel out and give you expensive pee.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

To help out on the site please email volunteer@nutritionfacts.org

Dr. Michael Greger

Doctor's Note

Please feel free to post any ask-the-doctor type questions here in the comments section and I’d be happy to try to answer them. And check out theother “HHH” videos (Harmful, Harmless, or Helpful?). Also, there are over a thousand subjects covered in the rest of my videos–please feel free to explore them as well!

For some context, please check out my associated blog posts: Soymilk: shake it up! and Eating To Extend Our Lifespan.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/mgreger/ Michael Greger M.D.

    Please feel free to post any ask-the-doctor type questions here in the comments section and I’d be happy to try to answer them. And check out the other “HHH” videos (Harmful, Harmless, or Helpful?). Also, there are over a thousand subjects covered in the rest of my videos–please feel free to explore them as well!

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/TracyFranksGillespie/ Tracy Franks Gillespie

    As far as weight loss goes, L-arginine and white bean extract were mentioned on the Dr. Oz show recently and I’m wondering what your opinion is on these supplements? As a dietitian, I’m hesitant to recommend any type of supplement because we are always taught “food first” but if something is safe and effective in blocking the absorption of (some) carbs or increasing metabolism, it could potentially be another tool in our arsenal to help people who are trying to lose weight. It would take some significant data to convince me to actually recommend supplements for weight loss, but just curious what your opinion is. Thanks!

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/drdons/ DrDons

    I share your concern about recommending supplements especially as it relates to weight loss. I recommend the only diet shown to work over time… the “ad libitum” low fat plant based diet with B12 supplementation. I particularly like and often cite the study, Shintani et al., The Hawaii Diet: Ad Libitum High Carbohydrate, Low Fat Diet for reduction of Chronic Disease Risk Factors: Obesity, Hypertension, Hypercholesterolemia, and Hyperglycemia, Hawaii Med J 60: 69-73; Mar 2001. I think the key concept for patients to understand is “calorie density” and not “calories”. I recommend and keep loaner copies on hand of Jeff Novick’s DVD, “Calorie Density: How to Eat More, Weigh Less and Live Longer”. He discusses the important concepts of satiety and calorie density and ties the latter to the amount of exercise a patient does. He shows how folks can lose “weight” without exercising. I also recommend John McDougall’s newsletter article (12/08), The Fat Vegan, so folks who adopt a plant based diet can avoid some of the behaviors that will thwart their efforts. Neal Barnard’s “Breaking the Food Seduction” is also helpful for many of my patients to help understand that the issue is “addiction” not weak will… it is available as a book or DVD. Resources beyond that depend on the patients individual circumstances. I’ve been practicing primary care medicine for over 30 years and the science is clear on the best approach. I’ve seen many diets come and go and many “supplement” recommendations come and go. I don’t recommend any of them. Calorie restricted diets don’t work in the long run except for a very small % of patients. Diets like the Atkins Diet have been shown not to be healthy. We can avoid chemicals see http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/obesity-causing-pollutants-in-food/ and start adopting the best overall diet see.. http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/thousands-of-vegans-studied/. I am a fan of understanding the science and the complexity to help us understand what works for patients see… http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/how-to-upregulate-metabolism/ but we have to be able to give our patients straight forward practical information and avoid jumping on the latest bandwagon whether that is a supplement or the newest fad diet. For example I believe the best practical starter handout is PCRM’s Vegetarian Starter Kit available as free download on their website. Keep tuned to NutritionFacts.org as the science keeps changing..

    • WholeFoodChomper

      Where can I find a PCP like you? 

      Out of curiosity, do you have any “primal” or “Paleo” folks coming to your practice these days?  It seems like this another diet trend/fad that is taking hold of the public and medical profession as well (our local news show even -uncritically- featured this type of diet for a week in its medical/health segment). 

  • Lngao

    Dr. Greger,
    I’ve got 3 questions on vitamin supplements that I couldn’t find answers (or should I say, reliable answers) on the internet.
    1.       Many supplements contain magnesium stearate, which acts as a lubricant to prevent tablet and capsule contents from sticking to the machinery during production. Some say it is harmless, some say harmful. What’s your take on this issue?
    2.       Are “whole food vitamins” really better than “synthetic vitamins”? They do sound better, but if you consider how the manufactures would have to do to extract those nutrients from food… No one has looked into how those are extracted or made, which might add potential contaminations. Am I thinking too much?
    3.       What does “organic vitamin” really mean? If it is synthetic (looks so to me from reading their labels, if whole food is used, they sure would mention it), how can it be “organic?
    Thank you!

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