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Scientists Challenge the Use of B Vitamins for Heart Attack Patients

Posted on: Tuesday, 6 September 2005, 09:00 CDT

Giving heart attack patients high doses of B vitamins does not lower their chance of suffering another attack or a stroke - and may do more harm than good.

Some studies have suggested that folic acid and vitamin B-6 could help prevent heart disease and stroke.

But now researchers from Norway have found that taking both these supplements together actually increases the risk of heart problems.

The Norwegian Vitamin Trial (NORVIT) looked at whether high doses of B vitamins helped to prevent recurrent heart disease in patients who had already suffered a heart attack.

More than 3,700 patients were assigned to take B vitamins or dummy pills for more than three years, alongside their normal heart treatment.

Each group received either 0.8mg of folic acid - a B vitamin - per day, 40mg of vitamin B-6, both folic acid and vitamin B-6 or a placebo capsule. The researchers, from the University of Tromso, found that those who took folic acid or vitamin B-6 alone had only a small increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease.

But they saw a 20 per cent increased risk in those who took both vitamins, according to results presented at the European Society of Cardiology conference in Stockholm.

Professor Kaare Harald Bonaa said: "The results of the NORVIT trial are important because they tell doctors that prescribing high doses of B vitamins will not prevent heart disease or stroke.

"B vitamins should be prescribed only to patients who have B vitamin deficiency diseases

Source: Birmingham Post; Birmingham (UK)

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