Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Women with no cardiovascular disease who regularly take a multivitamin decrease the risk of heart attack by 27% while 5 years of vitamin supplementation reduce the risk by 41%.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates that 1 in 3 Americans do some form of multivitamin supplementation (1). Now a new study (2) has found that multivitamin use may help reduce heart attack risk. The American Heart Association estimates there were 1.3 million heart attacks in 2005, causing 1 out of every 5 deaths among Americans (445,687 deaths) (3) and costing our healthcare system nearly $152 billion each year (4).
In the study, researchers analyzed data from The Swedish Mammography Cohort (5) where 31,671 women with no history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and 2, 262 women with a history of CVD ranging in age from 49 to 83 years completed a self-administered questionnaire regarding dietary supplement use, diet, and lifestyle factors.
Using the questionnaire, the researchers estimated the average multivitamin to contain:
- Vitamin A (0.9 milligrams)
- Vitamin C (60 milligrams)
- Vitamin D (200 IU)
- Vitamin E (13.5 IU)
- Thiamine (1.2 mg)
- Riboflavin (1.4 mg)
- Vitamin B6 (1.8 mg)
- Vitamin B12 (3 micrograms)
- Folic acid (400 micrograms)
The researchers followed the women for an average of 10.2 years and found that, compared to those not taking any multivitamin supplement, women without cardiovascular disease taking multivitamins regularly had a 27% reduced risk of heart attack. Even more encouraging was the long-term benefit of multivitamin use on heart attack risk, with five years of supplementation producing a 41% reduced risk. In women already diagnosed with cardiovascular disease, use of multivitamins alone or together with other supplements was not associated with a reduced risk of heart attack.
The researchers concluded “The use of multivitamins was inversely associated with heart attack, especially in long-term use among women with no cardiovascular disease.” This association could be due to other factors and should be followed up with controlled studies.
Source: Rautiainen, Susanne, et al. “Multivitamin use and the risk of myocardial infarction: a population-based cohort of Swedish women.” The American journal of clinical nutrition 92.5 (2010): 1251-1256.
© 2010 American Society for Nutrition
Posted October 18, 2010.
References:
- “Results of Multivitamin/Mineral Supplements and Chronic Disease Prevention NIH State-of-the-Science Conference (May 15-17, 2006)” http://ods.od.nih.gov/News/Results_of_MultivitaminMineral_Supplements_2006.aspx .
- Rautiainen S. Multivitamin use and the risk of myocardial infarction: a population-based cohort of Swedish women. Printed online September 21, 2010. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.2010.29371
- “Heart Attack and Angina Statistics” posted on the American Heart Association website.
- American Heart Association Update. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics—2007 Update. Circulation. 2007;115:e69-e171
- Wolk A, Bergstrom R, Hunter D, et al. A prospective study of association of monounsaturated fat and other types of fat with risk of breast cancer. Arch Intern Med 1998;158:41–5
