Sunday, December 05, 2010

Long-term Multivitamin Use in Women Reduces the Risk of Heart Attack

A new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition examined the association between multivitamin use and myocardial infarction (MI) in a large population of women.
The study included 31,671 Swedish women with no history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and 2,262 women with a history of CVD aged 49–83 years. At the beginning of the study, the women completed a questionnaire regarding dietary supplement use, diet, and lifestyle factors. Multivitamins were estimated to contain nutrients close to recommended daily allowances.
During an average of 10.2 years of follow-up, 932 MI cases were identified in the CVD-free group and 269 cases in the CVD group. In the CVD-free group, use of multivitamins only, compared with no use of supplements, was associated with a 27% decreased risk of CVD. When multivitamins were used in conjunction with other supplements, the risk of CVD was decreased by 30%. In those that used only supplements other than multivitamins the reduction in risk was much smaller at only 7%. In women that used multivitamins for more than 5 years there was a 41% reduction in risk of CVD.

This research showed that the use of multivitamins was inversely associated with MI, especially among long-term users with no history of CVD. Rautiainen S, Akesson A, Levitan EB, Morgenstern R, Mittleman MA, Wolk A. Multivitamin us and the risk of myocardial infarction: a population-based cohort of Swedish women. 2010. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 92, (5), 1251-6.
**I personally know a woman who suffered from congestive heart failure and cardiomyopathy who was rescued by a "friend with a bag of vitamins." The trick is to find high quality, bio-available pills (not the ones that cost $5.99 a bottle on the grocery store shelf.) I can tell you that it takes a lot of CO-Q10 and grape seed extract as well. My friend was at home waiting to die, and that was many years ago. He heart health returned to better than "normal"!

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