New evidence suggests that most vitamins are useless, but here are the only ones you should take

vitamins

Vitamins and supplements are a roughly $37 billion industry, but new research suggests they're mostly useless.
A crop of fresh studies looking at multivitamins and vitamins B, C, and D have concluded that for most people, they do little to no good.
Still, some specific vitamins can be helpful for people with specific health conditions.

It seems like simple, obvious advice: Eat your vegetables, get some exercise, and — of course — take your vitamins.

Or not.

Decades of research has failed to find substantial evidence that vitamins and supplements do any significant good. In fact, the results of recent studies lean in the opposite direction, finding that certain vitamins may be bad for you.

Several supplements have been linked with an increase in certain cancers, for example, while others have been associated with a higher risk of kidney stones. Still others have been linked with an overall higher risk of death from any cause.

So here are the vitamins and supplements you should take — and the ones you should avoid.

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Multivitamins: Skip them — you can get everything you need with a balanced diet.

It's long been thought that adding a multivitamin to your diet was a good step towards better overall health, but recent research suggests this is false.

Based on a review of studies published this month in the journal Circulation, scientists concluded that taking multivitamins does not improve heart health in the general population. That study comes on the heels of an even larger review published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology in June, which found no evidence that multivitamins are linked to a reduced risk of heart disease, heart attack, stroke, or death from any cause.

Some studies even suggest that consuming vitamins in excess can cause harm. A large, longterm 2011 study of close to 39,000 older women found that women who took vitamins over the course of more than 20 years actually had a higher overall risk of death than those who didn't take any supplements.

Vitamin D: Take it for bone health because it's hard to get from food.

Vitamin D is a critical ingredient that keeps our bones strong by helping us absorb calcium. It is missing from many of the foods we eat, so taking a vitamin D supplement may be a good idea for some people. Getting sunlight is another way to help your body make enough vitamin D, but that can be tough in the winter.

Some researchers hoped that vitamin D could also help protect people from brain-related disorders like Alzheimer's disease, but a review of 73 studies published this month in the journal Nutritional Neuroscience suggests that is not the case. The researchers found no evidence linking vitamin D supplementation with a reduced risk of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, or other forms of dementia.

Antioxidants: Skip them — an excess of these has been linked to an increased risk of certain cancers, and you can eat berries instead.

Touted for their potential to protect against cancer, vitamins A, C, and E are antioxidants found in many fruits and veggies — especially berries.

But studies suggest that antioxidants can actually be harmful, at least when taken in the mega doses offered by some supplements.

A 2007 review of trials of several different types of antioxidant supplements found that people who took the pills were more likely to die of any cause than people who didn't. Plus, a large long-term study of male smokers found that those who regularly took vitamin A were more likely to get lung cancer than those who didn't.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider