Are multivitamins worth taking?
Last updated September 3, 2026.
For most healthy adults, no clear benefit - the NIH finds multivitamin studies too inconsistent to compare and shows no reliable disease prevention, while noting that people who take them often already get more vitamins from food. The 'cannot hurt' logic mostly holds, but fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) accumulate, and high-dose beta-carotene has shown harm in smokers. Where multis genuinely earn their place: pregnancy (folic acid), over-50s (B12 absorption drops), restricted diets, bariatric patients, and documented deficiencies. A standard once-daily multi is a cheap safety net for a patchy diet - not a substitute for one, and not something to stack on single-nutrient pills without totaling the doses. Pymander is a free AI doctor, 24/7 by text, and can help you audit your stack.
What to do
- Varied diet? A multi adds little: the evidence says so plainly.
- Pregnancy, 50+, vegan, post-bariatric? Worth it: real gaps, real benefits.
- Do not stack multis with single-nutrient pills: total the doses first.
- Fat-soluble vitamins accumulate: more is not neutral for A, D, E, K.
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