By David Liu, PHD

Friday July 27, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Taking multivitamin supplements may help reduce risk for myocardial infarction or heart attack in women who have had no history of cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to a study in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study led by S. Rautiainen  of Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Swede and colleagues showed that women who had no history of cardiovascular disease but used multivitamins were 27 percent less likely to suffer myocardial infarction during a 10-year follow-up, compared to those with CVD free initially who did not use vitamin supplements.

The study involved 31,671 women with no history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) like myocardial infarction etc  and 2262 women with a history of CVD aged 49 to 83 in Sweden. Participants were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire in 1997 regarding dietary supplementation, diet, and lifestyle parameters.

Multivitamins were estimated to contain nutrients close to the recommended daily allowances, according to the researchers. Specifically, they contained vitamin A (0.9 mg), vitamin C (60 mg), vitamin D (5 μg), vitamin E (9 mg), thiamine (1.2 mg), riboflavin (1.4 mg), vitamin B-6 (1.8 mg), vitamin B-12 (3 μg), and folic acid (400 μg).

In the study, participants were followed up for 10 years during which 932 myocardial infarction were identified in the group of participants who were initially free of cardiovascular disease and 269 cases in the group of participants who had a history of cardiovascular disease.

In the CVD-free group, women using multivitamins only, compared with those who did not use supplements, were found 27 percent less likely to suffer myocardial infarction.  If multivitamins were used together with other supplements, the risk reduction was 30 percent.

Women who used supplements other than multivitamins were 7 percent less likely to experience myocardial infarction. The risk reduction was relatively smaller, but statistically significant.

Those who used multivitamins for five or more years were found to reduce their risk for myocardial infarction by 49 percent, compared to those who did not use multivitamins.

In the CVD group, either use of multivitamins alone or multivitamins together with other supplements was not associated with myocardial infarction.

The results of the study suggest that using multivitamins may help prevent myocardial infarction in healthy women, but vitamin supplementation may not help those who have had a history of cardiovascular disease.

Myocardial infarction is also known as heart attack. It is a major killer in the U.S.