B Vitamins Don’t Help Heart Patients

Ivanhoe Newswire
Thursday, August 21, 2008; 4:15 AM

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Taking B vitamins and folic acid may not do much to help patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).

Previous research has shown the concentration of total homocysteine in blood is associated with the risk of coronary artery disease and stroke. Taking folic acid and vitamin B12 can lower plasma total homocysteine levels. In this study, researchers wanted to evaluate the effects of folic acid plus vitamin B12 on death and cardiovascular events.
 
The study from Norway looked at 3,096 patients in two Norwegian hospitals between 1999 and 2006. Patients were divided into four groups and took one of the following treatments: folic acid, vitamin B12, and vitamin B6; folic acid plus vitamin B12; vitamin B6 alone; or placebo. Patients had follow-up visits with an interview, clinical examination, and blood sampling at one month, one year, and at the end of the study. 
 
The trial was stopped early because participants were concerned about preliminary results from another similar Norwegian study that suggested there were no benefits from the treatment and an increased risk of cancer from the B vitamins.

"We could not detect any preventive effect of intervention with folic acid plus vitamin B12 or with vitamin B6 on mortality or major cardiovascular events among patients with stable coronary artery disease undergoing intensive conventional treatment. We found a numerically lower incidence of stroke and higher incidence of cancer in the groups receiving folic acid, but these observations were not statistically significant," the authors were quoted as saying.

 "Our findings do not support the use of B vitamins as secondary prevention in patients with coronary artery disease," they said.
 
SOURCE: JAMA, 2008;300:795-804

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