Vitamin B and cardio events
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Vitamin B is not justified as secondary prevention in reducing risk of death or major cardiovascular events, according to a recent trial presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2007 on Sept. 4. The trial included 3,090 patients with "verified heart disease, mainly stable angina pectoris and 2 or 3 vessel coronary artery disease," according to Marta Ebbing, M.D., Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway. Subjects were randomly allocated to four groups to receive a daily oral dose of either folate with vitamins B12 and B6, folate with just vitamin B12, vitamin B6 or placebo. During the median follow-up of 38 months, there were "no significant differences in risk of death or major cardiovascular events between the intervention groups." There has been some debate whether vitamin B can lower homocysteine levels and thus prevent cardiovascular events (1"The Tan Sheet" Dec. 18, 2006, p. 12)...