Looking to cut household expenses in tough times? You might want to

eye that pricey bottle of multivitamins. The largest study ever of

multivitamin use in older women—combining four studies totaling

 more than 250,000 postmenopausal women—has found that the

supplements failed to reduce the risk of most common cancers,

cardiovascular disease or overall mortality. Researchers analyzed data

from the Women's Health Initiative over an average of about eight

years; 41.5% of participants took multivitamins. Those taking the pills

showed no significant difference in risk compared to women not taking

multivitamins.—Archives of Internal Medicine