(BlackDoctor.org) — Far from being healthy, supplements such as multivitamins, minerals and folic acid may actually raise the odds for death in older women who take them, a new study suggests.

Dietary supplements are widely used in the United States, often with the hope of avoiding chronic disease. However, the long-term health consequences of many compounds are unknown, the researchers said.

“Our study raises concerns about the safety of a number of commonly used dietary supplements,” said lead researcher Jaakko Mursu, a nutritional epidemiologist at the University of Eastern Finland, in Kuopio. “We would advise people to reconsider whether they need to use supplements and put more emphasis on a healthy diet,” he said.

The report was published in the Oct. 10 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

For the study, Mursu’s team collected data on nearly 39,000 women who took part in the Iowa Women’s Health Study. Specifically, the researchers looked for a connection between taking dietary supplements and the risk of death. The women in the study had an average age of 62 and reported their supplement use in 1986, 1997 and 2004.

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