Multivitamins & Prevention Part 3 Heart Disease

Two months ago, a randomized controlled trial was published in JAMA concluding that consumption of multivitamins did not decrease heart disease, at least not in men.  But as you well know, science is in the eye of the beholder.  Much like the blind men and the elephant, everyone has their spin on the evidence.

And in case you're wondering if this also applies to your spouse, a February 2009 randomized controlled trial (Women's Health Initiative) published in Archives of Internal Medicine arrived at the same conclusion: multivitamin use did not reduce heart disease in women, much less cancer & all-cause mortality.

So I found it interesting that a meta-analysis published last Friday in BMJ found no benefit in preventing heart disease by taking multivitamins.  Of note, the authors analyzed 50 randomized controlled trials comparing 156,663 participants to 137,815 controls in order to arrive at their conclusion.  Ironically, use of multivitamins was actually linked to increase risk of angina.  But once more rigorous subgroup analyses were performed, any link or association was no longer present.  For what it's worth,  the pharmaceutical industry supplied the vitamins for those trials in which B6 and E were shown to have some benefit, which makes one wonder, hmmm . . .

Bottom line: eat right & exercise regularly to prevent heart disease.  And focus on the known risk factors rather than looking for short cuts in a bottle.

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