Can a Placebo Beat a Multivitamin?

A team of researchers from Oregon State University found a significant positive effect when older men used multivitamins
The study involved 35 healthy men aged 68 years or older; half took a multivitamin/multimineral supplement while the other half took a placebo, daily for six months
The multivitamin group had improved biomarkers of nutrition while the placebo group did not
The placebo group had a reduction in cellular oxygen consumption, which is a marker of cell function; the multivitamin group did not
By improving vitamin status, or preventing declines, as well as limiting reductions in cellular oxygen consumption, multivitamin/multimineral use “may have important implications for metabolism and immune health in healthy older men”

Multivitamin and mineral supplements are the most commonly consumed supplement in the U.S. It’s estimated that one-third of U.S. adults — and one-quarter of children and adolescents — use them.¹ But despite their popularity, multivitamins are controversial, with studies showing mixed results on their benefits.

A team of researchers from Oregon State University (OSU), however, found a significant positive effect when older men used multivitamins,² to the extent that they concluded, “Our evidence indicates that many older men could benefit from a daily multivitamin.”³

Multivitamins Improve Key Biomarkers of Nutrition

The study involved 35 healthy men aged 68 years or older. Half took a multivitamin/multimineral (MV/MM) supplement while the other half took a placebo, daily for six months. The men used no other supplements during the study period, with the exception of doctor-prescribed vitamin D.

“Our tests when the study started showed that many of these older men were not obtaining the optimal levels of several vitamins,” said Tory Hagen, principal investigator and Helen P. Rumbel Professor for Healthy Aging Research at the Linus Pauling Institute. “So there certainly was room for improvement.”⁴

Significant differences were noted between the two groups at the end of the study period, however. The multivitamin group had improved biomarkers of nutrition while the placebo group did not. In fact, nutrition biomarkers fell in some of the placebo participants, which “suggests that food alone was not enough to keep their vitamin and carotenoid levels up,” Hagen explained.⁵

However, the placebo group also had a reduction in cellular oxygen consumption, which is a marker of cell function. “This was not observed in men who took the multivitamin, suggesting a connection between vitamin status and white blood cell function that we are eager to explore further,” Hagen said in an OSU news release.⁶

By improving vitamin status, or preventing declines, as well as limiting reductions in cellular oxygen consumption, the team stated that multivitamin/multimineral use “may have important implications for metabolism and immune health in healthy older men.”⁷ While vitamin and mineral deficiencies weren’t widespread in the healthy subjects that took part in the study, the researchers still found multivitamins to be worthwhile, explaining:

“[T]he use of MV/MM supplements can improve or prevent declines in the status of several vitamins and may prevent declines in cellular bioenergetic status. Although MV/MM supplementation is a “one-size-fits-all” strategy and does not target specific micronutrient needs, it is a cost-effective approach to improve micronutrient status in older men and may have an as yet unappreciated impact on maintaining metabolic function in cells.”

Multivitamins Are Good for Memory

Other research, by scientists from Harvard Medical School and Columbia University, demonstrated that older adults taking a multivitamin supplementation may experience memory improvements.⁸

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Data was gathered from the COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study Web (COSMOS-Web), which was an ancillary study of COSMOS. In this group of 3,562 older adults, participants received either a multivitamin supplement or a placebo.

The participants were evaluated at baseline and each year using a battery of neuropsychological tests over a period of three years. Results showed that participants taking the multivitamin supplement had better immediate recall at the first year point, which was maintained during follow-up.

The researchers estimated that taking a multivitamin improved performance by “the equivalent of 3.1 years of age-related memory change” compared to placebo.⁹ The team concluded:

“Daily multivitamin supplementation, compared with placebo, improves memory in older adults. Multivitamin supplementation holds promise as a safe and accessible approach to maintaining cognitive health in older age.”

Do Multivitamins Lower Chronic Disease Risk?

The goal of the COSMOS study was to evaluate cocoa extract supplementation with and without a standard multivitamin against the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and cancer. The larger study enrolled 21,442 participants and found cocoa flavanol supplementation did not show a significant impact in reducing the total number of cardiovascular events.

However, when the data were evaluated further, they also found daily multivitamins potentially reduced lung cancer by 38% and “did appear to improve levels of several nutritional biomarkers.”¹⁰ Previous research also found that daily multivitamin supplementation led to a statistically significant reduction in the incidence of total cancer among men aged 50 years or older.¹¹

Other research found multivitamin use was associated with a 70% decrease in risk of non-cardia gastric cancer among Black participants in the Southern Community Cohort Study who were below the healthy eating index median, meaning they had a lower-quality diet.¹²

Why Older Adults May Be at Risk of Nutrient Deficiencies

It’s important to note that getting older doesn’t guarantee nutrient deficiencies. In fact, given the lack of nutrient deficiencies the OSU team found among their older subjects, they said, “This is evidence to suggest that micronutrient deficiencies observed in prior reports may not be a function of age per se but a consequence of underlying health conditions or poor dietary habits.”¹³

There are, however, a number of factors that could predispose older adults to deficiencies and inadequacies in micronutrients — and if you are deficient, it’s possible that a multivitamin may be especially useful. Changes in eating habits along with physiological changes may contribute to micronutrient inadequacies. According to the OSU team:¹⁴

“For example, both food choices and changes in nutrient absorption may decline as a result of poor oral health, gastrointestinal pH changes, chronic low-grade inflammation of the gut (i.e., atrophic gastritis), co-morbid diseases, polypharmacy, or loss of taste and smell, and any combination of these factors.

There is also the possibility that advancing age may lead to heightened micronutrient utilization, making it more difficult for older adults to maintain blood nutrient levels. Acute or chronic inflammatory events, which often plague older individuals, may reduce the circulating concentrations of several vitamins and minerals.”

Most Common Nutrient Deficiencies

The best way to ward off nutrient deficiencies is to intentionally fortify your meals with whole, nutrient-dense foods. Targeted supplements can also be beneficial to make up for any nutritional gaps, as can multivitamins when needed.

In the U.S., 31% of the U.S. population was found to be at risk of at least one vitamin deficiency or anemia,¹⁵ increasing the risk of health problems over a lifetime. It’s also estimated that 1 in 3 Americans are deficient in at least 10 minerals, putting them at risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.¹⁶ Even at a subclinical level, being deficient in vitamins and minerals can cause a range of symptoms, including:¹⁷

Fatigue
Irritability
Aches and pains
Decreased immune function
Heart palpitations

Some of the most common nutrient deficiencies include:

1.Vitamin D — An estimated 40% of Europeans are deficient in vitamin D, while 13% are severely deficient.¹⁸ Among older Americans, however, it’s estimated that up to 100% may be deficient, in large part due to less time spent outdoors.¹⁹

The only way to gauge whether you might need to supplement, and how much to take, is to get your level tested, ideally twice a year, in the early spring, after the winter, and early fall when your level is at its peak and low point. Vitamin D is best obtained via sensible sun exposure, but supplementation may be necessary for some people.

2.Magnesium — It’s estimated that more than half the U.S. population may not be consuming enough magnesium.²⁰ You only need about 150 milligrams (mg) to 180 mg a day to prevent deficiency, but optimal levels are closer to the 600 mg/day level. For comparison, the RDA for magnesium is around 310 mg to 420 mg per day depending on your age and sex.²¹

Dark green leafy vegetables are a good source of magnesium, and juicing your greens is an excellent way to boost your intake, although supplementation is likely necessary for most people.

3.Vitamin K2 — Known for its role in bone and heart health, vitamin K2 is found in grass fed animal products such as meat, eggs, liver and dairy, as well as in fermented foods, including sauerkraut, certain cheeses and the fermented soy food natto — items that many Americans do not consume enough of.

4.Vitamin B12 — A water-soluble vitamin also known as cobalamin, vitamin B12 plays a role in numerous biochemical reactions and neurological functions in your body, including DNA synthesis.²² Your body can’t make vitamin B12 on its own, so it must be obtained via your diet or supplementation.

It’s been suggested that nearly two-fifths of Americans may have lower than ideal B12 levels, with 9% deficient and 16% below 185 pmol/L, which is considered marginally deficient.²³ While vegetarians and vegans are susceptible since B12 is derived from animal products, even meat eaters may be deficient, as problems with absorption are common.

5.Vitamin A — An estimated 51% of adults are not consuming enough vitamin A,²⁴ increasing their risk of degenerative diseases like macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness in the U.S.²⁵

Vitamin A is a group of nutrients that falls into two different categories: retinoids found in animal foods and carotenoids found in plant foods. The two are chemically different and provide different health benefits, but both are necessary for optimal health. Plant foods high in beta-carotene include sweet potatoes, carrots, cantaloupe and mangoes.²⁶ Animal foods rich in vitamin A include liver, egg yolks and grass fed butter.

The Best Way to Get Your Nutrients Is From Food

As I’ve long stated, eating fresh, whole foods is the best way to stay healthy and obtain the vitamins and minerals your body needs. Avoiding ultraprocessed foods, which are devoid of nutrients, is essential, but adding to the challenge, researchers have documented declining nutrient value sin the whole foods people are eating.

In one of the largest studies, researchers found a reliable decline in six nutrients across 43 foods.²⁷ With levels of protein, calcium, phosphorus, vitamin C and other nutrients lower in many fruits and vegetables compared to past decades,²⁸ it’s now more important than ever to choose locally grown, organic foods to support optimal health.

If you feel you’re not getting enough nutrition from your diet, however, a multivitamin may help fill in some gaps. When choosing any multivitamin or mineral supplements, be sure to look for a manufacturer that has checks and balances in place to ensure the quality of the product.

Article cross-posted from Dr. Mercola’s site.

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Two Storms, One Harvest

Every food crisis in living memory has been a one-shock event. The 2008 price spike was a commodity bubble. The 2020 shortages were a logistics failure. The 2022 grain scare was a war on one exporter’s ports. Each time, the system bent, adjusted, and recovered, and each time the experts assured us afterward that global markets are simply too big and too diversified to fail.

What nobody in Washington seems eager to discuss is that 2026 is shaping up to be something the modern food system has never actually faced. Two independent shocks, one climatic and one geopolitical, are converging on the same harvest cycle at the same time. Not sequentially. Simultaneously.

Start with the weather. The Pacific Ocean is currently building toward what forecasters now openly call a record event. NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center puts the odds of at least a strong El Niño near 88 percent, with roughly two in three odds it reaches “very strong” status, the tier reserved for perhaps three or four events in the entire satellite era. Every major global model now projects a median peak in Super El Niño territory, and most of them project it exceeding the 2015-16 event, which until now held the modern record. Sea surface anomalies were already brushing the super threshold in mid-July, months before these events normally peak. The atmosphere has already shifted into El Niño mode, and the event is forecast to crest in late fall and early winter.

This is not about “climate change.” It’s about the standard cycles of weather, and the cycle we’re currently in is one that has likely devastated societies in the past. We’re better prepared as a society today, but not all Americans are equally prepared.

Serious households have started doing the quiet math on their own. Grocery bills tell part of the story, and the forecast maps tell the rest, which is why long-term food storage has moved from fringe hobby to mainstream line item in the family budget, with established suppliers like Heaven’s Harvest seeing demand from people who five years ago would have rolled their eyes at the idea. That instinct is not paranoia. It is pattern recognition, and the pattern is worth walking through carefully.

Editor’s Note: Heaven’s Harvest IS a sponsor, but the warnings of this article are real and would be written even if we didn’t have a survival food sponsor. With that said, those who take advantage of what they offer can use promo code “Patriot” for 15% off.

The Fertilizer Clock Is Already Running

While the Pacific warms, the second shock has been unfolding in the Strait of Hormuz. The conflict with Iran turned the world’s most important energy chokepoint into a contested waterway, and the consequences reach far beyond the gas pump. Roughly a third of global fertilizer trade moves through Hormuz, and the disruption sent urea prices up 86 percent year over year by March, with a 53 percent jump in a single month.

The World Bank projects energy prices rising about 24 percent in 2026 and fertilizer about 31 percent. By its own accounting, fertilizer prices ran 35 percent higher in the first five months of this year than the same period last year.

Here is the mechanism the nightly news will not explain. Fertilizer is not a grocery item. It is a time-delayed input. The nitrogen a farmer in Iowa or Punjab could not afford to apply this spring does not show up as a problem this spring. It shows up as a thinner harvest six to twelve months later.

The World Bank’s own food security brief concedes that the effects of reduced applications earlier this season “are likely to become visible only later in harvest outcomes.” Translate that from institutional language into plain English and it means this. The damage is already done, it is already in the ground, and we are simply waiting for it to arrive on the shelf.

Now check the calendar. Six to twelve months from the spring planting season lands us squarely in late 2026 and early 2027. Which is precisely when the strongest El Niño in the instrumental record is forecast to peak, bringing its signature droughts to Southeast Asia, Australia, southern Africa, northern Brazil, and South Asia, the very regions that grow the world’s rice, sugar, and oilseeds.

The World Bank warns openly that a strong El Niño “could disrupt multiple crop belts simultaneously” on top of the conflict-driven input costs. Their baseline projection assumes the Middle East disruptions ease by autumn. What in the last two years of Middle East history suggests that assumption is safe?

The System Has No Slack Left

The comfortable answer is that global markets always adjust. But adjustment requires slack, and the slack is gone. Global cereal production is expected to decline from last year’s records even before El Niño does its work. The UN World Food Programme, hardly a den of right-wing preppers, is calling this the most significant disruption to its supply chains since Covid and the invasion of Ukraine, and its supply chain director put the stakes bluntly.

Today’s supply chain challenges are tomorrow’s hunger crisis.

There is also a political dimension that markets cannot price. When food gets scarce, governments do not behave like economists. They behave like politicians. Export bans, hoarding mandates, and panic buying at the national level turned the modest rice shortfall of 2008 into a global crisis, and analysts are already warning that import-dependent nations are the first dominoes.

The 2015-16 Super El Niño, a far weaker event than what is now forecast, threw tens of millions into food stress across Africa and Asia. This one is projected to be stronger, and it arrives with fertilizer already rationed by price and shipping lanes already contested by missiles.

What Joseph Knew

Scripture does not treat preparation for lean years as faithlessness. It treats it as wisdom delivered in advance to those willing to act on it.

Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt.

Joseph did not respond to that warning with a hashtag or a committee. He stored grain during the years of abundance, and when the famine came, Egypt stood while its neighbors begged. The lesson is not that famine is certain. It is that the time to prepare is precisely when preparation still looks optional.

Nobody who filled a pantry in a year of plenty has ever regretted it, and nobody standing in an empty aisle has ever been glad he waited for certainty.

None of this calls for panic, and panic is the enemy of sound judgment anyway. It calls for the same unglamorous prudence our grandparents considered ordinary. Keep some cash margin, know your local growers, and put real food in deep storage while it is cheap and available, because the entire arc of this story is that cheap and available is a closing window.

Families looking for a straightforward place to start can visit Heaven’s Harvest and use promo code Patriot for 15 percent off long-term storable food. The forecasts may yet soften, the strait may yet reopen, and we should pray they do. But hope is a fine thing to hold and a foolish thing to eat.