Why you might think twice before taking a daily multivitamin to ward off death

By Karen Kaplan | Los Angeles Times 

LOS ANGELES — If you’re taking a multivitamin to help you live longer, a new study by researchers at the National Cancer Institute may prompt you to reconsider.

After analyzing health and nutrition data from nearly 400,000 Americans, the researchers found that people who took multivitamins had a small but significantly greater risk of premature death than people who eschewed the supplements.

The findings, reported Wednesday in the journal JAMA Network Open, may seem baffling.