Multivitamins aren’t magical substitutes for a healthy lifestyle. But they could be a part of one.
- A multivitamin feels like an easy health insurance policy. But most health professionals say healthy, whole foods are still the best bet, Ashley May writes.
💡 Most research on multivitamins shows they’re low-risk — but also low-reward. For older adults, there are some documented benefits.
- “When we’ve seen actually quite consistent findings for potential benefits of a multivitamin on cognition, I would say that applies to men over 60 and women over 65,” says Howard Sesso, an epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, who has led multivitamin clinical trials.
- In one study of men 50 and older, daily multivitamin use had a “very modest” reduction in cancer, as well as certain eye diseases, Sesso says.
🔬 Between the lines: Research on multivitamins, and really everything, has been conducted on more men than women.
If you do want to try a multivitamin, Sesso has tips:
- Avoid products with botanicals and a long list of additives. Those don’t always mix well with medications such as GLP-1s or blood pressure meds.
- Skip the pricier “specialized formulations” and go with a major brand.
Case in point: While Sesso agrees that benefits are minimal, he decided to start taking a multivitamin at age 50 himself (“once I hit the eligibility criteria for the studies that I’ve been conducting”), on top of eating a healthy diet and staying active.
| Young adult suicide rates rise |
| By Alex Fitzpatrick |
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| Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios |
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| The young adult suicide rate increased in most U.S. states from 2014 to 2024, a new analysis finds.
Why it matters: The numbers underscore the toll of the country’s mental health crisis, which rages on even as the Trump administration cuts funding for programs designed to help vulnerable groups, like LGBTQ+ kids.
Driving the news: The suicide rate for U.S. adults aged 18-27 increased nearly 20% between 2014 and 2024, rising from 13.8 per 100,000 people to 16.4, per a new analysis of CDC data from Stateline, a nonprofit newsroom.
- That came as Gen Zers entered that age range and millennials left it, and was driven largely by Black and Hispanic men, especially in the South and Midwest.
By the numbers: The young adult suicide rate increased the most in Georgia (+65%), North Carolina (+41%), Texas (+41%), Alabama (+39%) and Ohio (+37%).
- The rate decreased in a few states, including North Dakota (-39%), Vermont (-37%) and Delaware (-34%).
What they’re saying: “Theories behind the increase range from bullying on social media, since Gen Z was the first generation to grow up with the internet, to economic despair, to cultural resistance to seeking help for depression,” per Stateline.
Go deeper: Firearms are now involved in most youth suicides, per a separate report from anti-gun violence group Everytown based on data through 2023.
If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988. Ayuda disponible en español. |
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from STAT:
special report
Gotta catch ’em all (Medical licenses version?)
Thumỹ Phan for STAT
Historically, doctors have gotten their medical license — singular — in whatever state they live and practice in. A doctor with a handful of licenses was an anomaly, and someone with licenses for all fifty states and the District of Columbia was almost unheard of. But that’s changed in the years since Covid began driving patients online, STAT’s Katie Palmer reports. In part 2 of The Virtual Rx Boom, she explains how the number of physicians seeking multi-state licensure has ballooned to support the growing field of telehealth.
To be clear, these doctors don’t max out on licenses just to practice in every state. Often, they own the medical groups affiliated with nationwide telehealth companies. “The telemedicine clients I work with, they can’t get into enough states fast enough or hire people fast enough because there’s such a big push right now,” attorney Bradford Adatto told Katie. By 2024, 172 doctors held active licenses in all 50 states, and another 356 doctors had acquired at least 45 — significantly outpacing the profession’s overall growth. Read more in this fascinating story, and don’t forget to go back to part 1 of the series if you haven’t read it yet.
Telehealth use slips again
Direct-to-consumer telehealth to get drugs may be on the rise, but the use of telehealth in more traditional health care continues to slip from pandemic highs, according to an analysis of insurance claims from Trilliant Health. Though telehealth use skyrocketed during the pandemic when it was the only option, volumes have come down since. Behavioral health remains a virtual care use case with staying power. The chart above comes from Trilliant’s always interesting annual report on health care trends.
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covid-19 shot
Delayed response
On Monday, CDC Acting Director Jim O’Neill announced that he’d approved recommendations allowing anyone over the age of 6 months to receive an updated Covid-19 shot, Anil Oza and Chelsea Cirruzzo report.
States had been unable to order the shots for low-income children while they waited for the government to sign off.
The updated recommendation doesn’t say whether some individuals will still need a prescription to access the shot, as approved by the FDA.
O’Neill also approved a recommendation that children under the age of 4 receive the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and the chickenpox shot separately, as opposed to receiving a combined shot known as MMRV.
vaccines
MMR breakup
On the social media site X, O’Neill called for drastic changes to the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine that aren’t supported by medical research, Anil reports, intensifying the Trump administration’s criticism of a shot that’s a cornerstone of the childhood vaccination schedule. Specifically, O’Neill called for companies to make a separate shot against each disease, rather than the combo MMR vaccine.
Outside experts have told STAT that breaking up the shots could leave children more vulnerable to infections. A study published in 2017 found that 69% of children who received a combination vaccine completed the recommended series, compared to 50% of kids whose parents opted for the single antigen vaccines. (The single-disease vaccines are no longer available in the U.S.)
No evidence getting separate shots for measles, mumps, and rubella is safer than the combination vaccine. Read more. |
