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# No Benefit in Taking Supplements: NIH Study
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/no-benefit-in-taking-supplements-nih-study/
- Published: 2019-04-17T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T01:21:02.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5143887

National Institutes of Health (NIH) director **Francis Collins** says a study funded by NIH that gathered survey data from over 27,000 people over a six-year period found that individuals who reported taking dietary supplements had about the same risk of dying as those who got their nutrients through food. Writing in the *NIH Director’s Blog*, Collins also [says](https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2019/04/16/study-finds-no-benefit-for-dietary-supplements/?ref=fdaweb.com) that the mortality benefits associated with adequate intake of vitamin A, vitamin K, magnesium, zinc, and copper were limited to food consumption.

The [study](https://annals.org/aim/article-abstract/2730525/association-among-dietary-supplement-use-nutrient-intake-mortality-among-u?searchresult=1&ref=fdaweb.com), reported in the *Annals of Internal Medicine*, also suggested that certain supplements might be harmful to health when taken in excess, Collins writes.

Collins says the researchers initially saw an association between use of dietary supplements and a lower risk of death due to all causes, but those associations vanished when they accounted for other potentially confounding factors. “While the study has some limitations, including the difficulty in distinguishing association from causation, and a reliance on self-reported data,” Collins concludes, “its findings suggest that regular use of dietary supplements should not be recommended for the general U.S. population. Of course, this doesn’t rule out the possibility that certain subgroups of people, including perhaps those following certain special diets or with known nutritional deficiencies, may benefit.”