this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2024
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Daily multivitamins do not help people live longer, major study finds (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 5 months ago by HowRu68@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world
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[–] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 95 points 5 months ago (1 children)

There are many problems with this post and this study:

  1. This study did not conclude that there are no health benefits from taking multivitamins, that's a false equivalence made by the poster.

  2. This study has no parameters for the quality or types of vitamins taken other than "multivitamin"

  3. This study exclusively reports the correlation between mortality and multivitamins, which is an inconsequential and useless statistic without any parameters.

  4. This study does not take into account any variables apart from a lack of long-term health disorders among multivitamin takers.

This is relevant as many people take vitamins specifically to rectify long-term health disorders.

Then again, seeing as how their only metric was mortality and not efficacy on health, that wouldn't have mattered in this study.

  1. Objectively, a large percentage of the multivitamin market are older people, who are more likely to die.

This could be one of the explanations for the 4% higher mortality rate in multivitamin takers. I'm sure there are others, since no variables are parameters were taken into account or structured into the study. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2820369

This "study" is the sum function on an Excel sheet that counted the number of deaths connected to the number of people who reported taking multivitamins, which is a useless number without controlled parameters or variables taken into account.

The study means nothing.

[–] mipadaitu@lemmy.world 16 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Saying that this is a sum function on an Excel spreadsheet is a VAST oversimplification of this study. Stating that they did not take variables and parameters into account means that you did not read the study you linked. This may very well be a poor study, but not for the reasons you stated.

[–] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 18 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

The study begins by adding up how many people self-reported taking multivitamins in some reports, then they added up the dead humans.

Pretty simple.

I thought I said there were no relevant variables and parameters? I'll check.

Yes, I said relevant in point four.

I guess I could have used it in two and three also, although I think it makes sense in context.

I stand by my earlier comment and don't see the need to edit it to add in the word "relevant" to further dunk on an irrelevant paper.

Here: There are no relevant controlling variables or parameters that make this study useful.

It's not even a curio because any number of factors could influence the conclusions of their addition.

[–] Sanctus@lemmy.world 34 points 5 months ago (5 children)

Isn't it more about getting vitamins you might be missing? Not really about living longer?

[–] QualifiedKitten@lemmy.world 17 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I can't speak for anyone else, but the supplements I take are primarily intended to improve the quality of my life, not quantity. For example, I take a B multivitamin because I find that my nails don't break quite so easily when I do.

[–] TexasDrunk@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I take B vitamins because I don't feel like a dirt grub after a bender. I'm not worried about living longer or I wouldn't go on benders. I just want to feel good while I'm here.

[–] QualifiedKitten@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

Username checks out!

I also frequently enjoy more alcohol than recommended, so it's good to know that my "expensive urine" may be serving more purposes than intended. Lol.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 11 points 5 months ago

Generally speaking, multivitamins do nothing.

This is known.

The reason they do nothing is that most people have a reasonable diet that hits all the micros. It doesn’t even have to be a stellar diet, or even vaguely “healthy”, per se.

If your diet already includes the micros; then your body just shits or pisses them out. If you have an actual deficiency in something, it’s probably not diet related and more to do with uptake. Either way, that’s a conversation for you and your doctor, not a pill pusher advert

[–] scytale@lemm.ee 10 points 5 months ago

Yep. Wife and I take a multivitamin with an emphasis in vitamin D because we both avoid the sun as much as possible. The rest just supplement other vitamins that we otherwise don't get enough of because of our regular diet.

[–] SuckMyWang@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

You would think if you were deficient in certain vitamins, this could be a health risk and increase the chance of an earlier death.

[–] Wrench@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I take Magnesium Citrate because I get frequent foot cramps, and it helps reduce them a little. Foot cramps aren't life threatening besides i guess the small increase in risk when it occasionally happens while driving.

But they're certainly annoying.

[–] SuckMyWang@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

Yes there are many examples where vitamin deficiencies won’t shorten your lifespan, I was talking about an average across the population

[–] Contentedness@lemmy.nz 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Folks on Lemmy seem to love shitting on multivitamins. I brought some about a year ago because I was run down and getting sick all the time. Im a Chef so inconsistent diet and drinking alcohol kind of come with the deal. Anyway nower days I feel more energetic and my immune system seems more robust. The daily multivitamins I take cost $0.25 each.

[–] KevonLooney@lemm.ee 1 points 5 months ago

Yeah, multivitamins work but $0.25 is way too much. You can get it down to $0.06 per pill if you look around. $0.09 is normal.

[–] Zwiebel 13 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Eat yo veggies and do a littl sport. Don't drink and smoke. Ther you go, healmth

[–] Ultraviolet@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

Of course it's always better to get vitamins from food, but getting them from a multivitamin is better than not at all.