A recent study conducted on 14,000 men found that multivitamins are not efficient enough to fight the risk of heart attacks in men.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an analysis showed that more than half of American adults take at least one multivitamin supplement a day which they believe helps decrease the risk of heart attacks and stroke. However, scientists have found that the well-held belief is not true as multivitamins do not help in cutting down the risk of strokes and heart attacks in older people especially men.
The U.S. Physicians Health Study II observed nearly 15,000 males aged 50 and older for more than 10 years. Participants were randomly assigned to take a multivitamin or a placebo.
"We found that after more than a decade, there is neither benefit nor risk," in terms of cardiovascular disease, said Dr. Howard Sesso, study author and associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
A study earlier last month found that multivitamins do help in reducing the risk of cancer in older men.
"We still feel very comfortable with the conclusions for the cancer findings," Dr. Sesso said. "The lack of effect for cardiovascular disease versus cancer benefit isn't necessarily inconsistent. There could be a difference in mechanism of effect."
The findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
"It is hard for us to recommend, at this point in time, taking a multivitamin to avoid cardiovascular disease," Dr. Sesso said, noting that patients need to discuss all over-the-counter medicines with their doctors.
Sesso also stated that many people consume multivitamin supplements thinking it's a "quick fix" to all heart diseases but it isn't.
"The danger of taking multivitamins is that it will lead you to think you can forgo other lifestyle changes," such as not smoking and maintaining a healthy diet, said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, associate professor in the department of epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health.
"Many patients think that because they are getting an OTC (over-the-counter) medication it is safe and the risk of complications is low," said Dr. Elliott Antman, chairman of the AHA Scientific Sessions Committee and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "That appears to be right, but we still need to remind them of the need for lifestyle changes."
