A 22-year-old member asked:
Will taking vitamins prevent heart disease?
2 doctor answers • 5 doctors weighed in
Dr. Bryan Leveyanswered
Pediatrics 28 years experience
Unlikely: Heart disease may be effected by some vitamins, but mostly it is a life-style disease. You are far more likely to lessen your chance of developing heart disease by eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly. It won't matter how many vitamins you take if you don't eat well and don't exercise.
6.1k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
Dr. Randy Bakeranswered
Holistic Medicine 41 years experience
Most likely but: A recent study suggests mutivits don't prevent heart disease in men but many other studies suggest vitamins are likely to prevent heart disease.In his book stop america's #1 killer dr. Thomas levy argues vit c deficiency is a main cause of heart disease. Vitamins that lower homocysteine (b6, b12, folate) reduce risk. Vit e prevents LDL cholesterol from oxidizing.Vit d & k likely help. See comment:.
5.5k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
2 comments
Dr. Randy Baker commented
Holistic Medicine 41 years experience
Provided original answer
There was a study published this week that found multivitamins did not prevent heart disease in doctors. However, the vitamin used was Centrum Silver, which is not a particularly high quality supplement. It has only 60 mg of Vit C, 45 IU of synthetic Vit E (which I feel is toxic based on other studies), 400 IU of D, 3 mg of B6, 10 mcg of Vit K etc. The doses of those that would be much more likely to show benefit are Vit C 500 mg, Natural E with mixed tocopherols 400 IU, Vit D 4000 units, 25 mg of B6, 1000 mcg of Vit K and so on, so I believe all this study proves is that small doses of poorly-formulated vitamins don't prevent heart disease!
see http://www.healthy.net/scr/article.aspx?Id=557
Nov 11, 2012
Dr. Randy Baker commented
Holistic Medicine 41 years experience
Provided original answer
Your question lead me to review the study published in this week's JAMA that purported to show that multivitamins don't prevent heart disease. I have written an extensive commentary on this at http://drrandybaker.com/
Nov 11, 2012
Similar questions
A 38-year-old member asked:
What should I do to help prevent heart disease?
1 doctor answer • 5 doctors weighed in
Dr. John Szawalukanswered
Cardiology 32 years experience
See below: Adhere to a healthy low fat diet, avoid smoking, get plenty of exercise, treat high blood pressure , high cholesterol and diabetes if appropriate. Know your risk factors and family history.
5.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
Last updated Jun 22, 2014
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