As I pointed out in an earlier blog , individual vitamins and multivitamins have been proven over and over to have no benefit for heart disease.
A recent series of articles in the Annals of Internal Medicine summarized in this accompanying editorial, confirms this and further shows that multivitamins have no benefit on preventing cognitive decline with aging.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force reviewed all studies on multivitamins, single and paired vitamins and concluded that there was no benefit of taking these on overall mortality, cardiovascular mortality or cancer.
Hopefully this series of articles will start the decline of the multibillion dollar Vitamins and Supplement industry in the U.S.
For my patients, I recommend a healthy diet that includes, fruits, vegetables, and fish which will provide all the micronutrients and vitamins they need. There is no evidence that you can substitute taking industry-processed micronutrients or fish-oil and expect the benefits to be the same
Measuring and Reversing Biological Age: The EGYM© versus The Longevity Lunatic Fringe©
A few days after turning 69 the skeptical cardiologist walked into the Magadalena Ecke YMCA and began a program called EGYM. I’d seen banners advertising
2 thoughts on “Time to Stop Taking Worthless Vitamins and Minerals”
Are there any conditions, such as vitamin D deficiency, for which the Skeptical Cardiologist would recommend a supplement?
I recommend Vitamin C for scurvy, Vitamin B1 for pellagra and Vitamin D for rickets.
These are rare in the US.
Vitamin D plus calcium seems to be helpful in preventing bone fractures in those at risk.
Unfortunately, Vitamin D has been over hyped for other chronic diseases including cancer and heart disease without good supporting evidence.
The Vitamin D Council would like you to believe that the fatigue and various aches and pains you experience as a part of normal aging are related to low Vitamin D levels but it appears that no vitamin, supplement, herb, multivitamin, mineral or drug helps these symptoms more than placebo in the vast majority of individuals.