Are Multivitamins Effective?

There have been quite a few articles and discussions in the news over the last few months on the topic of multivitamins.  Are multivitamins effective?  Do they really improve your health?  Are they worth the cost?  These are all important questions that should be addressed.  If consumers are paying for multivitamins, shouldn't they then provide some meaningful result in one's health?  If not, they are nothing more than a placebo.

Several recent studies show that multivitamins are NOT providing the intended effect on one's health.  That's not to say that multivitamins don't provide any benefit.  If you're body is low on something, a vitamin can be useful.  However, multivitamins are not a substitute for poor eating habits.  For the typical person, eating the correct foods is all you need.  Multivitamins aren't necessary.  In fact, if you body is getting the nutrients it needs, the extra provided by multivitamins does nothing.  Your body can't absorb these extra nutrients and they simply pass through your body as waste.  I don't know about you, but I don't need to pay more just to poop something out.  :-)

Here are a couple of resources to dig deeper into the multivitamin research.

Are multivitamins a waste of money? Editorial in medical journal says yes
What Vitamin and Mineral Supplements Can and Can’t Do
Multivitamin researchers say "case is closed" after studies find no health benefits

For myself, I'd rather eat a well-balanced diet and avoid the cost of multivitamins.  Same thing for my kids.  I'd much rather focus on getting them to eat a well-balanced diet than spend money on gummy style multivitamins.

The bottom line is that multivitamins can be helpful, but if you are using them to replace a good diet so you can eat Cheetos and chocolate cake all day long, they're not helping.  :-)