Benefits of B Vitamins Unsettled
Feb. 10, 2000 (Washington) -- One day it may be proven that taking vitamins reduces the risk of heart disease, but today is not that day -- despite a Dutch study that showed a 60% reduction in abnormal heartstress tests in people who took vitamin B6 and folic acid for two years, compared to a group who took a placebo. That study, published in Feb. 12 issue of the journal The Lancet, is too small to be conclusive and used measurements of heart health that are fraught with inaccurate results, experts tell WebMD.
Some researchers have come to suspect that high levels of a naturally occurring protein, homocysteine, put people at increased risk for heart problems. The tantalizing, but yet unproven, theory is that the use of simple B vitamins, specifically B6 and folic acid, can reduce these homocysteine concentrations and thwart heart problems. Studies are underway that look at whether these supplements result in reduced numbers of heart attacks, strokes, and other related problems.
The Lancet study also tries to prove this theory, but the Dutch researchers looked at how well their study participants did on exercise stress tests, which are notoriously inaccurate.
"I think this tells us nothing and I am afraid people will misinterpret it," Andrew G. Bostom, MD, tells WebMD. Bostom, an assistant professor at Brown University in Providence, R.I., wrote an editorial critical of the study that also appears in the publication. "They can stand on their heads and spit nickels in the Netherlands about the editorial. But this study still means nothing. It is not a valid design and three of the four things they studied showed no result," he says.
A co-author of the study, however, defended it as an "important first step." Says Coen Stehouwer, MD, "This is the first investigation that has provided some ... proof of the concept. This is only the first step. We clearly do not want to claim that this is all settled, but it is an important step. It is encouraging," though more conclusive proof will come from large studies, he says. Stehouwer is an assistant professor of internal medicine at University Hospital Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam.
Benefits of 'B's' Unsettled
Feb. 10, 2000 (Washington) -- One day it may be proven that taking vitamins reduces the risk of heart disease, but today is not that day -- despite a Dutch study that showed a 60% reduction in abnormal heartstress tests in people who took vitamin B6 and folic acid for two years, compared to a group who took a placebo. That study, published in Feb. 12 issue of the journal The Lancet, is too small to be conclusive and used measurements of heart health that are fraught with inaccurate results, experts tell WebMD.
Some researchers have come to suspect that high levels of a naturally occurring protein, homocysteine, put people at increased risk for heart problems. The tantalizing, but yet unproven, theory is that the use of simple B vitamins, specifically B6 and folic acid, can reduce these homocysteine concentrations and thwart heart problems. Studies are underway that look at whether these supplements result in reduced numbers of heart attacks, strokes, and other related problems.
The Lancet study also tries to prove this theory, but the Dutch researchers looked at how well their study participants did on exercise stress tests, which are notoriously inaccurate.
"I think this tells us nothing and I am afraid people will misinterpret it," Andrew G. Bostom, MD, tells WebMD. Bostom, an assistant professor at Brown University in Providence, R.I., wrote an editorial critical of the study that also appears in the publication. "They can stand on their heads and spit nickels in the Netherlands about the editorial. But this study still means nothing. It is not a valid design and three of the four things they studied showed no result," he says.
A co-author of the study, however, defended it as an "important first step." Says Coen Stehouwer, MD, "This is the first investigation that has provided some ... proof of the concept. This is only the first step. We clearly do not want to claim that this is all settled, but it is an important step. It is encouraging," though more conclusive proof will come from large studies, he says. Stehouwer is an assistant professor of internal medicine at University Hospital Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam.
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