The Last Word: Do You Really Need to Take a Multivitamin?

Multivitamins, Cancers, and Mortality Risk

However, the study showed that multivitamins were associated with a slightly lower incidence of any cancer, unlike individual vitamins or minerals.

While research shows that dietary patterns that include fruits and vegetables help decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, there’s no clear evidence that packaging vitamins in a pill helps prevent these chronic illnesses, says Jenny Jia, MD, instructor of medicine and preventive medicine at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, and one of the coauthors of the JAMA editorial mentioned above.

A Lack of Diversity in Research

Another sticking point, says Dr. Jia, is that the available research on multivitamins and health outcomes doesn’t include a diverse group of people. Typically, people who participate in vitamin studies are those who tend to be motivated to be healthy, she says. “They’ve adopted healthy patterns like eating more fruits and vegetables. There’s definitely certain gaps within the current research that we have,” Jia says.

Would the outcome be different — could we see a benefit — if more diverse study participants from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds were included? It’s hard to say without that data.

Promise for Heart Health

That said, researchers presented a more recent analysis at the annual meeting of the American Society of Nutrition, NUTRITION 2026, suggesting a benefit of multivitamin use for certain symptoms of heart failure and overall functional health in adults over 60 years of age. Functional health, which refers to your ability to perform daily tasks independently, is an important factor in healthy aging.

After three years of the study, the researchers presenting at NUTRITION 2026 found that older adults who took a multivitamin scored higher than participants in other groups on a validated questionnaire measuring functional health related to heart disease. They linked this to reduced daily impact of heart failure symptoms, including breathlessness, swelling, and extreme tiredness, while taking the multivitamin.

However, it’s worth noting that these findings are preliminary and haven’t yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal. More research is necessary to more confidently establish a link between multivitamin use and long-term clinical benefits, and to identify the possible mechanisms underlying this functional health protection.

Researchers also don’t suggest that multivitamins are a replacement for the nutrition you get from eating a nutrient-dense diet — rather, they may provide additional support for older adults with heart failure.

There’s no good evidence that multivitamins are universally helpful. “To my knowledge, the preponderance of data does not support an across-the-board benefit from multivitamin supplements for the general population,” says Alice Lichtenstein, DSc, senior scientist and the Gershoff Professor at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston.

That means that not everyone needs one — but do you? The diet you eat and the supplements you take are your choice alone. If, after evaluating exactly why you want to take one and weighing the pros and cons, you decide to take a multivitamin, you can absolutely do so. 

Multivitamins and Pregnancy

If you choose to take a multivitamin, Dr. Lichtenstein recommends finding a product that does not contain more than 100 percent of the RDA of each of the nutrients in the formula.

In addition, she recommends looking for a product that is third-party certified by an organization like the United States Pharmacopeia (USP), which indicates that the ingredients listed on the label are present in the product, that it does not contain harmful levels of contaminants, and that it has been made in a safe and sanitary environment.

For some guidance on which multivitamins stand up under research, you can check out our list of the best multivitamins for women, as recommended by experts.

Whichever product you choose, a multivitamin can’t cover all of your nutritional bases. “If the decision is made to rely on a multivitamin supplement, it is important to know that not all the dietary components associated with positive health outcomes are contained in the pills,” says Lichtenstein. “This includes fiber and thousands of other compounds, sometimes referred to as phytochemicals, that we get from food that have yet to be identified or their biological effect established,” she says.

• Eat the amount of calories that promotes a healthy body weight (this varies by person, and a registered dietitian can help you determine your optimal caloric intake)
• Eat fruits and vegetables
• Eat whole grains
• Eat healthy sources of protein, including plant protein, fish and seafood, low-fat and fat-free dairy, and lean meats
• Use liquid plant oils, and avoid tropical oils and partially hydrogenated fats
• Choose minimally processed foods
• Minimize added sugar
• Prepare foods with little or no salt
• If you don’t drink alcohol, don’t start; if you do, limit your intake

Yes, that’s many more steps than just popping a pill, but there’s good evidence behind establishing those habits for disease prevention — while the same can’t be said of a multi. Other lifestyle habits, such as exercise, are also protective against disease.

It’s also important to consider why you’re thinking about taking a multi. “Are you trying to live a long, healthy life? If you are, we have some evidence-based practices that are known to help prevent heart disease, such as not using tobacco, drinking alcohol in moderation or less, maintaining a healthy body weight, exercising regularly, and eating a healthy diet,” says Jia. “We have more evidence for these healthy lifestyle behaviors than multivitamins.”