Lifestyle

5 Supplements Doctors Say Most People Over 50 Are Taking Without Evidence

By Mike Harper · September 4, 2026

You spend $80 a month on pills your doctor didn’t prescribe. The bottles promise energy, joint relief, immune support, and sharper thinking. The evidence behind most of them ranges from thin to nonexistent.

Americans spend more than $60 billion a year on dietary supplements, and adults over 50 are the industry’s most devoted customers. But a growing body of research — including a major 2026 review from The Conversation — confirms what most physicians have been saying quietly for years: for generally nourished adults without documented deficiencies, the evidence does not support universal supplementation.

A daily multivitamin — for people without deficiencies. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force does not recommend multivitamins for the prevention of cardiovascular disease or cancer. A 2025 review encompassing millions of participants concluded their impact on longevity remains uncertain. For people with balanced diets, the multivitamin provides small amounts of nutrients they’re already getting from food. It’s not harmful. It’s also not doing what the label implies.

Turmeric and curcumin. Turmeric supplements are the fastest-growing category in the U.S. market, marketed for joint inflammation, brain health, and general “anti-inflammatory” benefits. The problem: curcumin is so poorly absorbed by the body that most of what you swallow passes through without reaching therapeutic levels in the blood. Clinical trials have consistently failed to show meaningful benefits for any specific condition at standard supplement doses.

Biotin for hair and nails. Biotin deficiency is exceedingly rare in people who eat a normal diet. There is no evidence that supplemental biotin improves hair thickness, nail strength, or skin quality in people who aren’t deficient — which is nearly everyone. What biotin supplements can do is interfere with common lab tests, including troponin and thyroid function tests, producing false results that can lead to misdiagnosis.

Glucosamine and chondroitin for joint pain. These supplements have been among the top sellers for decades, marketed to the tens of millions of Americans with osteoarthritis. But large randomized trials, including the NIH-funded GAIT trial, found no significant benefit over placebo for most participants. Some subgroups showed modest improvement, but the overall evidence doesn’t support the broad claims on the bottle.

Vitamin E as an antioxidant. Once promoted as a heart-protective antioxidant, vitamin E supplementation has been studied extensively — and the results have been consistently disappointing or concerning. High-dose vitamin E supplements showed no cardiovascular benefit in multiple trials, and some research has linked them to a slightly increased risk of prostate cancer and hemorrhagic stroke.

The supplements that DO have evidence behind them for adults over 50 — vitamin D (especially with limited sun exposure), vitamin B12 (absorption declines with age), and calcium (for women at risk of osteoporosis) — should be targeted to specific, documented needs, not taken as a blanket protocol. The best supplement is the one that answers a real deficiency. The most expensive one is the one that answers a marketing campaign.