Vitamins E, C did not reduce heart events

BOSTON, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Vitamin E and C supplements did not reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events in a large, long-term study of male U.S. physicians, researchers said.

Howard D. Sesso and colleagues from Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health and VA Boston Healthcare System, all in Boston, said previous observational studies supported vitamin E in cardiovascular disease prevention and vitamin C in reducing coronary heart disease risk.

The study, Physicians' Health Study II, assessed the effects of vitamin E and vitamin C supplements on the risk of major cardiovascular disease events among 14,641 male physicians, age 50 or older, who were at low risk of cardiovascular disease at the beginning of the study in 1997.

Study participants were randomized to receive 400 International Units of vitamin E every other day or a placebo and 500 mg of vitamin C daily or a placebo.

During a mean follow-up of 8 years, there were 1,245 confirmed major cardiovascular events -- 511 heart attacks, 464 strokes and 509 cardiovascular deaths, with some men experiencing multiple events, the study said.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that, compared with placebo, neither vitamin E nor vitamin C had an effect on the prevention of major cardiovascular events.

The findings were also presented at the American Heart Association meeting in New Orleans.