Multivitamins don’t lower the risk of heart disease in men
A new study shows that taking multivitamins doesn’t lower the risk of heart disease in men. In the study, nearly 15,000 men 50 years and older were followed for more than 10 years. Both identical treatment groups with respect to risk factors for cardiovascular disease were randomly assigned to take either a Centrum Silver multivitamin or a placebo pill daily.
Research showed that when comparing the group that took the multivitamin and the group that took the placebo, there was no significant impact on risk of heart attack, stroke or cardiovascular mortality.
Dr. Eva Lonn, a cardiologist at McMaster University in Ontario, stated “Many people with heart disease risk factors…lead sedentary lifestyles, eat processed or fast foods, continue to smoke, and stop taking life-saving prescribed medications, but purchase and regularly use vitamins and other dietary supplements, in the hope that this approach will prevent a future myocardial infarction or stroke.”
Just like ordering a diet Coke with your double cheeseburger won’t help you to lose weight, taking a multivitamin when you’re already extremely at risk for heart disease unfortunately won’t help you either.
According to study leader Howard Sesso, an associate epidemiologist in the Brigham’s Division of Preventative Medicine, “The way we view this study is that there’s no obvious reason to take a daily multivitamin solely for the prevention of cardiovascular disease.” With that being said, this doesn’t mean that taking multivitamins is useless for our heath.
Multivitamins have been found to aid in cancer prevention. In fact, it was reported that men who took multivitamins daily had a moderately lower risk of developing cancer compared to those men that took the placebo. There are also studies being done regarding multivitamins and their protection against age-related memory loss as well as eye diseases.
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