WASHINGTON: Contrary to popular belief, daily use of vitamin supplements does not
reduce risk of cardiovascular disease among men middle aged and older, a study
released Monday says.
It was published in the Journal
of the American Medical Association and followed 14,641 men -- doctors working
in the US -- whose average age was 64 at the start of the study in 1998 and
monitored them for about 11 years.
Half of them, chosen at random,
took multivitamins and the other half a placebo, said the authors. They called
their study the most extensive ever done on the usefulness of multivitamins for
prevention of chronic disease.
In the period under study, 2,757,
or 18.8%, died of a cardiovascular event such as a heart attack or stroke.
These included 1,345 taking vitamins and 1,412 taking the placebo.
The researchers from Harvard
University concluded that taking multivitamins made no difference when it came
to warding off cardiovascular illness or stroke.
The lower number of deaths among
vitamin-takers was not statistically significant, they said.
In an accompanying editorial, Eva
Lonn of McMaster University and Hamilton General Hospital in Ontario, Canada,
wrote that "robust data from multiple trials clearly confirm that
(cardiovascular disease) cannot be prevented or treated with vitamins."
"Nonetheless, many people
with heart disease risk factors or previous CVD events lead sedentary
lifestyles, eat processed or fast foods, continue to smoke, and stop taking
lifesaving prescribed medications, but purchase and regularly use vitamins and
other dietary supplements, in the hope that this approach will prevent a future
myocardial infarction or stroke," she wrote.
"This distraction from
effective CVD prevention is the main hazard of using vitamins and other
unproven supplements," Lonn added.
- AFP/al
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