Study: Dietary supplements won't help you live longer

Doctors at Tufts University say it's pretty clear that supplement use has no benefit for the general population and is not a substitute for a healthy balanced diet.

Their research found that vitamins A and K, magnesium, zinc and copper were linked to a lower risk of death from heart disease or stroke - but only when they came from foods.

Co-author Fang Fang Zhang, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, says getting nutrients in the right quantities from food was associated with a longer life.

In fact, Zhang says some supplements even appear to have health risks. People who took high doses of calcium supplements had a 53% higher risk of dying from cancer than people who were not taking supplements.

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However, if you have been diagnosed as deficient in a certain nutrient, don't stop taking it without talking to your doctor first.

The research team used data from 30,000 U.S. adults who participated in a National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2010.

The research was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.