To B or not to B?High doses of B vitamins B vitamins This family of vitamins consists of thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pantothenic acid (B5), pyridoxine (B6), biotin, folic acid (B9), and cobalamin (B12). didn't lower the risk of heart disease in high-risk patients in two new studies. Canadian researchers gave more than 5,500 people with heart disease or diabetes either a daily placebo or a combination of folic acid folic acid: see coenzyme; vitamin. folic acid or folate Organic compound essential to animal growth and health and needed by bacteria as a growth factor. (2,500 mcg), vitamin B-6 (50 mg), and vitamin B-12 (1,000 mcg) as part of the Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation (HOPE-2) trial. After five years, the B-vitamin takers had no lower risk of heart attacks than the placebo takers. But they did have a 24 percent higher risk of being hospitalized for unstable angina un·sta·ble angina n. Angina pectoris characterized by pain of coronary origin that occurs in response to less exercise or other stimuli than usually required to produce pain. and a 25 percent lower risk of stroke. (Unstable angina chest pain that occurs when heart muscle gets too little oxygen--can be a sign of an impending im·pend intr.v. im·pend·ed, im·pend·ing, im·pends 1. To be about to occur: Her retirement is impending. 2. heart attack.) The Norwegian Vitamin (NORVIT NORVIT Norwegian Vitamin Trial ) trial gave more than 3,700 heart attack patients either a placebo, folic acid (800 mcg), vitamin B-6 (40 mg), vitamin B-12 (400 mcg), or some combination of the three B vitamins every day for three years. The results suggested that those who took all three vitamins might have had a higher risk of heart attack, but not cancer, as preliminary results had suggested (see Jan./Feb. 2006, p. 8). What to do: It's not worth taking high doses of B vitamins to lower your risk of heart disease or stroke. (It still makes sense to take a daily multivitamin mul·ti·vi·ta·min adj. Containing many vitamins. n. A preparation containing many vitamins. multivitamin with B vitamins, though.) The number of strokes in this study was too small to conclude that B vitamins can lower the risk, especially since they failed to lower the risk of strokes in two other trials. N Eng. J. Med. 354: 1567, 1578, 1629, 2006. |
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