Multivitamin, Multimineral Users Self-Report Better Health

TUESDAY, Nov. 10, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Despite no differences in clinically measurable health outcomes, multivitamin and multimineral (MVM) users self-report better overall health, according to a study published online Nov. 9 in BMJ Open.

Manish D. Paranjpe, from Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional analysis of the effect of MVM consumption on self-reported health and clinically measurable health outcomes using data from 4,933 adult MVM users and 16,670 adult nonusers from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey.

The researchers found that compared with nonusers, MVM users self-reported better overall health (adjusted odds ratio, 1.31). No differences were seen between MVM users and nonusers in terms of history of 10 chronic diseases, number of current health conditions, severity of current psychological distress on the Kessler 6-Item Psychological Distress Scale, or rates of needing help with daily activities. After stratification by sex, education, and race, there was no effect modification observed.

“Our findings suggest that widespread use of multivitamins in adults may be a result of individuals’ positive expectation that multivitamin use leads to better health outcomes or a self-selection bias in which MVM users intrinsically harbor more positive views regarding their health,” the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text