BC Living
Recipe: How to Make Pie Crust from Scratch
Valentine’s Day Drink Recipe: Hy’s Love Is Love Cocktail
Recipe: Pork Belly and Asparagus
Nature’s Pharmacy: 8 Herbal Boutiques in BC
How Barre Enhances Your Flexibility
Top Tips for Workout Recovery
Inviting the Steller’s Jay to Your Garden
6 Budget-friendly Holiday Decor Pieces
Dream Home: $8 Million for a Modern Surprise
Local Getaway: Hideaway at a Mystical Earth House in Kootenay
9 BC Wellness Hotels to Relax and Recharge in This Year
Local Getaway: Enjoy Waterfront Views at a Ucluelet Beach House
B.C. Adventures: Things to Do in February
5 Beautiful and Educational Nature and Wildlife Tours in BC
7 Beauty and Wellness Influencers to Follow in BC
11 Gifts for Galentine’s Day from B.C. Companies
14 Cute Valentine’s Day Gifts to Give in 2025
8 Gifts to Give for Lunar New Year 2025
Does a multivitamin a day really keep the doctor away? Before you buy those supplements, read Dr. Art Hister's advice on how to skip the pills without compromising your health
Good nutrition and exercise can help reduce your supplement intake
Millions of people take multivitamins every day to ward off health ills. It’s a strategy I’ve never favoured because I’ve never been convinced that the average person needs a daily multivitamin (except for people with specific digestive disturbances, the elderly, many of whom have poor diets on top of poor absorption abilities, and those with specific chronic health conditions).
The reason I don’t believe most of us need a daily multivitamin is simple: It’s easy to get enough vitamins even from a typical unhealthy Canadian diet, so taking a multivitamin every day does nothing for the majority except assure that we pee out more expensive urine.
Coincidentally, two recent reports examined this health issue (in men who were part of the Physicians’ Health Study, but the results probably apply to women, too). The first report found that daily intake of multivitamins led to an eight per cent reduced risk of some cancers; the second report found no benefit whatsoever on the risk of suffering cardiovascular events (i.e., heart attacks and strokes).
Some might argue, “Hey Art, there’s really nothing to lose from taking a daily multivitamin ’cause even if it does nothing for my heart, it at least reduces the risk of cancer.” An argument I’d counter with these three key considerations:
Dude, you should still eat that casserole, not only because getting your vitamins from food is way better for you than getting them from pills, but it will also help keep your marriage intact.
Dr. Art Hister is a medical writer and health analyst for Global TV.
Originally published in TVW. For daily programming updates and on-screen Entertainment news, subscribe to the free TVW e-newsletters, or purchase a subscription to the weekly magazine.