You don’t need food supplements: only omega-3 and folic acid are useful

Food supplements are not so useful, but at least they are not dangerous, in short, they do not extend our life and do not reduce the risk of heart problems. The only ones that have beneficial effects are folic acid and omega-3s, but also low-salt diets and, in general, balanced diets. Scientists explain to us how they came to this conclusion. This is why food supplements are not useful for health.

The research

To reach this conclusion, the experts studied the data collected from 277 clinical studies, for a total of 992,129 participants, to study the effects of 16 types of vitamins, food supplements and eight diets in relation to mortality or heart conditions, including coronary heart disease, stroke and heart attack. The vitamins taken in the analysis were: antioxidants, Beta carotene, vitamin B, multivitamins, selenium, vitamin A, vitamin B3/niacin, vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin E, only vitamin D, calcium, calcium and vitamin D together, folic acid, iron and omega-3 fatty acid (fish oil). As for diets, those studied were: a Mediterranean diet, a diet with reduced saturated fats (less fat of meat and dairy products), a modified dietary intake (less saturated fat or substitution of calories with more unsaturated fats or carbohydrates), a low-fat diet, low-salt diet in healthy people and those with high blood pressure, a diet with alpha-linoleic acid (nuts, seeds and vegetable oils) and a diet with more omega-6 fatty acids (nuts, seeds and vegetable oils).

The results: food supplements are useless

The data collected showed that all supplements, including the most famous ones such as multivitamins, selenium, vitamins A, B6, C, E and D, calcium and iron do not increase or decrease the risk of death or heart problems.

The only useful ones

In contrast, experts have found that low-salt diets are useful, reducing the risk of death in healthy people by 10% and in people with high blood pressure by 33%. The omega-3 are also useful, reducing the risk of heart attack by 8% and the risk of coronary heart disease by 7%. And so is folic acid, which reduces the risk of stroke by 20%.