Over half of Americans take and spend over 30 billion dollars a year on supplements.   Recently, Johns Hopkins researchers have found that almost all vitamin, mineral and other nutrient supplements or diets cannot be linked to longer life or protection from heart disease.    In fact some actually showed a slight danger.  This new study isn’t the only one to come to this conclusion.  There have recently other studies as well that have shown no real benefit.

So this is what they reviewed:

antioxidants

beta-carotene

vitamin B-complex

multivitamins

selenium

vitamin A

vitamin B3/niacin

vitamin B6

vitamin C

vitamin E

vitamin D alone

calcium alone

calcium and vitamin D together

folic acid

iron

omega-3 fatty acid (fish oil).

The only supplements that did show a potential health benefit was omega 3 fish oil and folic acid.  Supplements combining calcium and vitamin D may in fact be linked to a slightly increased stroke risk.

Sources:

Effects of Nutritional Supplements and Dietary Interventions on Cardiovascular Outcomes. Annals of Internal Medicine, 2019; DOI: 10.7326/M19-0341

Johns Hopkins Medicine. “Vast majority of dietary supplements don’t improve heart health or put off death, study finds.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 16 July 2019.