Nov 13 2008
Vitamins C and E Do Not Reduce Risk of Cardiac Events in Men
This week, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reports that long-term supplementation with either vitamins C (500 mg) or E (400 IU) is ineffective at reducing major cardiovascular events, including heart attack and stroke.
The study was a ten year randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in low risk, healthy men over 50-years old.
Unfortunately, results do not get any more conclusive than this. Sorry boys, you are going to have to stick with diet and exercise for now.
It was thought that antioxidants such as vitamins C and E may reduce risk of cardiovascular disease by decreasing oxidative damage and reducing inflammation. But it appears that consuming these vitamins in supplement form is ineffective.
It is still a good idea to get enough of these antioxidants from dietary sources, however. Fruit is a good source of vitamin C. Almonds are good for vitamin E. A bonus is that a diet rich in fruits and nuts actually is associated with a lower risk of heart disease.
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Also in JAMA, low-dose aspirin was shown to be ineffective at reducing the risk of cardiac events in patients with type 2 diabetes. This finding is somewhat surprising because aspirin is effective at reducing cardiac events in non-diabetic individuals, and patients with diabetes are considered to be at particularly high risk for heart disease. It was thus reasoned that aspirin should be recommended for people with diabetes. However, in this group of diabetic patients in Japan, aspirin did not the reduce risk of a cardiovascular event.
One thing to note is that this study was relatively small, only 2,539 participants. So it may have lacked statistical power to find a real benefit. If you have type 2 diabetes and are currently taking daily aspirin, I wouldn’t stop just yet.
The good news for everyone is that basic dietary and lifestyle factors are by far the largest contributors to heart disease, diabetes and cancer. You can avoid most of these problems by eating a varied diet of whole foods, maintaining a healthy weight and staying moderately active. I’d choose that over aspirin any day!
Do you take many dietary supplements?
UPDATE: The problems with vitamin C and E supplements were expanded on this week by Tara Parker-Pope at the New York Times Well Blog. It is a great read if you are interested in this topic.
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