Multivitamin supplements do not reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke, a major study of middle-aged men shows today.
A randomised, placebo-controlled trial that began in 1997 with continued treatment and follow-up until June 2011 concluded that taking a daily multivitamin had no significant effect on major heart problems, such as heart attacks, or stroke.
The results are published in the November 7 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The Physicians’ Health Study enrolled 14,641 male doctors, aged 50 plus, 754 of whom had a history of heart disease when they enrolled. A total of 7,317 took a daily multivitamin for 10 years, while 7,324 took a placebo.
Dr Howard Sesso, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA, and colleagues analysed the data, measuring the composite end point of major heart events, including heart attack, non-fatal stroke, and death from heart disease. Secondary outcomes included heart attack and stroke individually.
A midpoint follow-up found that 1,732 men had had major cardiovascular problems, including 652 cases of heart attack and 643 cases of stroke. A total of 829 men died from heart problems.
A total of 2,757 men died during follow-up – 1,345 from the multivitamin group and 1,412 from the placebo group. There was neither a significant effect of a daily multivitamin on major heart events, or total heart attack or total stroke, nor on rates of congestive heart failure, angina, and coronary revascularisation.
“These data do not support multivitamin use to prevent CVD, demonstrating the importance of long-term clinical trials of commonly used nutritional supplements,” write the authors.
“Whether to take a daily multivitamin requires consideration of an individual’s nutritional status, because the aim of supplementation is to prevent vitamin and mineral deficiency, plus consideration of other potential effects, including a modest reduction in cancer and other important outcomes in PHS II that will be reported separately.”
JAMA November 7 2012;308[17]:1751-1760
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