Health scare of the week: Multivitamins don't work

last updated 8 January 2015

That daily multivitamin is a waste of money, says new research. In an enormous study involving more than 160,000 women over a period of eight years, researchers found that multivitamins do absolutely nothing to prevent cancer or heart disease or increase people’s longevity. “We thought there could be a modestly reduced risk, but there is nothing,” study author Marian Neuhouser tells The New York Times. More than half of all Americans take multivitamins, spending more than $20 billion a year on them. Researchers said people would be better off eating more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains than popping vitamin pills.