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There are many things you can do to keep your heart healthy and hope to live longer. But a new review suggests that most dietary changes and supplements do not make the needle move much, if at all. Some supplements may even slightly increase your chances of having a stroke.
The study, published this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine, delves deeply into the links between our diet, our supplement habits and our cardiovascular health. This is an overview of nine meta-analyzes of randomized and controlled clinical trials, as well as four other trials, representing more than 270 trials involving nearly one million volunteers. These trials asked people to test a total of 24 interventions, such as taking a certain supplement or switching to a Mediterranean diet, and comparing them to control groups.
On the positive side, the authors found strong enough evidence that eating less salt, even if your blood pressure is normal, may slightly reduce your chances of dying prematurely, including from cardiovascular disease. They also found unconvincing evidence that taking fish oil supplements, containing omega-3 fatty acids, may reduce the risk of heart attack and heart disease, while folic acid supplementation was associated at a lower risk of stroke.
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But they found no evidence that taking supplements containing vitamins B6 and A, multivitamins, iron, or antioxidants resulted in a change in the risk of cardiovascular disease or premature death. The same nil result was observed with all other dietary changes, such as eating less fat. And taking supplements containing both calcium and vitamin D was actually linked to a higher risk of stroke.
This is not the first study or study to say that supplements are useless for improving the health of the average person. But the results, say the authors, also reflect the sad state of the science of nutrition. Most of the trials reviewed were rated as low quality, high risk of bias, or simply not applicable to the general population. With folic acid, for example, the study most likely to suggest that it can help prevent stroke was conducted in China. But people living in China initially tend to have lower levels of folic acid, as their foods are not fortified as are many products in the United States.
"Overall, these findings are limited by the suboptimal quality of evidence," the authors wrote.
However, the authors' message is clear for most supplements. Unless you are currently fighting scurvy or another specific disability, you do not need it. And taking some supplements at very high doses, such as vitamin B6, has even been linked to cancer or other health risks.
"Do not waste your money with these supplements," said study author, Safi Khan, in a video statement published by the American College of Physicians, which publishes the Annals of Internal Medicine .
This does not mean that a Mediterranean diet rich in fruits and vegetables, fish and nuts is not good for general health. At the very least, we are pretty sure that a diet that encourages more fruits and vegetables is better than a diet of highly processed foods and sweet treats. But much more rigorous research needs to be done to determine the exact benefits of these plans. This would include trials that are not based solely on food diaries, as our erroneous memories can make them inaccurate.
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