Antioxidants nixed again in healthy heart quest

Studies continue to pile up the evidence that there are no magic-bullet substitutes for healthy diet and exercise.

By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. Sept. 3, 2007.

Washington -- Theoretically, antioxidant vitamins should provide heart-healthy benefits, but the evidence from clinical trials is clearly coming down on the negative -- as in forget-about-it -- side of the equation, particularly for women.

The latest in a string of studies on vitamins C, E and beta carotene found no reduction in cardiovascular events among a group of about 8,000 women at high risk for heart disease who consumed various combinations of the vitamins over nine years.

The study was in the Aug. 13/27 Archives of Internal Medicine.

The researchers' conclusion is not surprising, given similar findings that have emerged during the past several years. But it is disappointing, since popping a handful of vitamins undoubtedly would be easier than sticking to an appropriate diet and getting sufficient exercise.

Clearly, healthier hearts and blood vessels are a prevention imperative. Heart attacks and strokes cause more deaths in Americans -- among both genders and all racial and ethnic groups -- than do any other diseases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Although the trial was conducted with women, there is no evidence that men and women differ in their responses to antioxidants, said Dr. Pamela Ouyang, professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Dr. Ouyang participated in an earlier trial on antioxidants.

The reason so many researchers have poured so much time and energy, not to mention resources, into the quest for what could have been a magic-bullet cure for heart disease is the evidence that had accumulated from basic science and animal studies. These early indicators suggested that vitamins could prevent harmful oxidation processes in the blood vessels.