HHS HealthBeat (March 26, 2009)

Not Better

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Multivitamins can do a lot of things, but researchers say there are limits. The researchers say multivitamins did not reduce postmenopausal women’s risk of most common cancers, cardiovascular disease or death from any cause.

Marian Neuhouser of Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center looked at data on more than 161,800 women. She says the multivitamins didn’t hurt, but they didn’t help.

There was a hint of a benefit against heart attack among women who took stress-type multivitamins. But the study could not be sure.

So Neuhouser tells women:

[Marian Neuhouser speaks] "They may want to spend their precious resources purchasing additional fruits and vegetables, instead of taking a multivitamin."

The study in Archives of Internal Medicine was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: March, 26 2009