Long-Term Multiple Dietary Supplement Used Associated With Multiple Health Benefits

Long-term multiple dietary supplement (LTMDS) users are defined as people who have taken at least 2 supplements daily for at least 20 years. A new study indicates a potential link between long-term multiple dietary supplement use and several cardiovascular and blood sugar health benefits.

For their study, the researchers used data from two sources. The first source was a study that included 278 long-term multiple dietary supplement users. The second source was 2,310 participants who took part in the 2007-2010 National Health and Examination Survey. The participants were classified as non-dietary supplement users, single supplement/single purpose supplement users, multivitamin/mineral supplement users, and multiple dietary supplement users. The groups were compared for total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, insulin, C-reactive protein, and HbA1c.

The researchers found that all participants who used a dietary supplement had significantly lower LDL cholesterol compared to those who never used a dietary supplement. LTMDS participants had lower fasting glucose compared to all other groups, and lower C-reactive protein levels compared to participants who never used a dietary supplement. LTMDS participants also had significantly higher HDL cholesterol,lower triglyceride levels, and significantly lower glucose concentrations compared to non-supplement users. In addition, the percentage of participants with elevated HbA1c was approximately 50% lower in LTMDS participants compared to non-supplement users.