The nutrition study the $30B supplement industry doesn’t want you to see

Enlarge (credit: Getty | Roberto Machado Noa)

A decade-long observational study of more than 30,000 people finds that certain vitamins and minerals may help extend your life and keep you from dying of cardiovascular disease-but only if you get those beneficial nutrients from foods, not supplements.

The study, published this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine, is yet another to find that taking supplemental vitamins and minerals-either individually or in multivitamins-offers no discernible benefits in terms of reducing risks of death generally or death from cardiovascular disease and cancers, specifically. Simply put, popping pills can't take the place of eating a healthy diet-an unflashy takeaway that likely won't please the massive, $30 billion supplement industry.

Moreover, the study didn't just find a lack of benefits from supplements. It also found potential harms. Getting high doses of calcium (1,000 mg or more per day) from supplements-but not from foods-was linked to higher cancer mortality risks in the study. Likewise, people taking vitamin D supplements who didn't have vitamin D deficiencies may have higher risks of all-cause mortality and death from cancers.

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