Vitamin B Does not Prevent Death in Heart Patients

Taking vitamin B or folic acid supplements does not reduce the risk of death in patients with coronary artery disease, a new study has found. According to a study published in the Aug. 20 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), vitamin B can not help save the lives of heart patients.

The new study, conducted by Marta Ebbing, M.D., and her team at the Haukeland University Hospital, enrolled 3,096 heart disease patients in two Norwegian hospitals between 1999 and 2006 for the Western Norway B-vitamin Intervention Trial (WENBIT).

The study volunteers, who on average were in their early 60s at the beginning of the study, received folic acid (0.8 mg), vitamin B12 (0.4 mg) and B6 (40 mg); folic acid plus B12; B6 alone; or placebo.

Three-quarters or 75% of the participants were taking statins, anti-platelet drugs, and beta-blockers to treat their heart disease.

The researchers then performed periodic blood tests on all the study patients to measure their level of homocysteine, which is an inflammatory chemical linked to higher rate of heart disease and stroke.

The study showed that taking folic acid and vitamin B12 though reduced homocysteine concentrations in the body of the coronary artery disease patients by 30%, but even those patients weren't less likely to die of any cardiac-related disease.

The study found that coronary artery disease patients taking cardiovascular drugs didn't cut their risk of death, and they weren’t less likely to suffer a nonfatal heart attack or clot-related stroke, be hospitalized due to unstable angina (chest pain), or need to have a narrowed or blocked coronary artery surgically reopened.

The researchers had to stop the study early because of concerns among the participants about preliminary results from a similar Norwegian study suggesting intervention with B vitamins could increase risk of cancer.

The researchers wrote: "This trial did not find an effect of treatment with folic acid/vitamin B12 or vitamin B6 on total mortality or cardiovascular events. Our findings do not support the use of B vitamins as secondary prevention in patients with coronary artery disease."

The results of the recent study contradict a previous study that linked the intake of Vitamin B with lower risk of heart diseases.

In November 2006, a British study had suggested that heart diseases, one of the leading causes of death, are actually preventable if people pay attention to their lifestyle, particularly to what they eat.

In their study, the British researchers had noticed that folic acid has significantly reduced homocysteine levels in the body. Thus, increasing folic acid in the diet can directly reduce risk of heart problems, they suggested at the time. They even encouraged people to take supplements or get this folic acid from rich sources such as green leafy vegetables, liver, kidneys and whole-grain cereals.

Folic acid is a member of the vitamin B group and is essential for cell renewal and growth. It works with cyanocobalamin and ascorbic acid to break down proteins and in hemoglobin production. Deficiency in folic acid may result to poor growth. It is essential for pregnant women to take folic acid supplements as it reduces the incidence of a specific class of birth defects called neural tube defects.