Taking daily vitamin supplements doesn't help you live longer, review of 400,000 people finds READ MORE: Scientists pinpoint the lifestyle that could help you live to see 100 By Kate Pickles Health Editor For The Daily Mail Published: 16:00 BST, 26 June 2024 | Updated: 16:44 BST, 26 June 2024 e-mail 39 View comments They promise health benefits from boosting the immune system to strong bones. But multivitamins do not help you live longer, a major study has found. Regularly taking the supplements was found to have no effect on whether people lived longer, according to the research involving nearly 400,000 healthy adults.
In fact, using multivitamins daily was associated with a 4 per cent higher mortality risk, the analysis found. The vitamins industry is estimated to be worth billions in the UK and US, taken by people in the hope of improving their health. The vitamins industry is estimated to be worth billions in the UK and US, taken by people in the hope of improving their health But the potential benefits and harms of supplementing diet with additional vitamins and minerals remains unclear, often hindered by study size and short follow-up times.
Led by researchers at the National Cancer Institute in the US, researchers followed participants with an average age of 61, who had no history of cancer or other chronic disease, for more than 20 years. They looked at their multivitamin use from 1993 to 2001 and again between 1998 and 2004 with a follow up period of up to 27 years. .
