Multivitamins Reduce Risk for Heart Disease and Diabetes

"Taking multivitamins is a waste of money." How many times has that opinion been expressed in doctor’s offices around the country, or printed in the pages of mainstream medical journals? The answer is “Often.” Even today, when it’s well known how essential numerous vitamins and minerals are for maintaining optimal health, many doctors still scoff at the idea that most Americans need multivitamin supplements (a term that’s generally understood to mean supplements containing multiple vitamins and minerals and, increasingly, plant-derived antioxidants as well). There is abundant scientific evidence that certain vitamins can help reduce the risk of many chronic debilitating diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.1 Current research is producing evidence that a high intake of certain vitamins and minerals may inhibit damage to our DNA, which might help prevent many of the most common diseases seen in industrialized societies.