If you’re hoping your daily multivitamin is helping your heart then the American Heart Association has some disappointing news for you. A recent study by the association’s doctors found that multivitamins and mineral supplements don’t prevent heart attacks, strokes or cardiovascular deaths.
This conclusion comes from an analysis of 18 studies published in AHA’s journal “Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.” The comprehensive review found no association between taking multivitamin and mineral supplements and lowering one’s risk of death from cardiovascular diseases.
“It has been exceptionally difficult to convince people, including nutritional researchers, to acknowledge that multivitamin and mineral supplements don’t prevent cardiovascular diseases,” said study lead author Joonseok Kim, M.D., assistant professor of cardiology in the Department of Medicine at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. “We found no clinical benefit of multivitamin and mineral use to prevent heart attacks, strokes or cardiovascular death.”
The AHA does not recommend using multivitamin or mineral supplements to try to prevent cardiovascular diseases.