I have a confession to make: I take vitamin supplements. Why is this a confession? Well, because research has indicated for years that dietary supplements are a waste of money for most people. newscientist.com/article/23... (Registration required)
So begins this week's email from New Scientist Health reporter, Grace Wade, who continues;
"Study after study shows they have minimal to no benefit for preventing conditions such as cancer or cardiovascular disease. In fact, vitamin E and beta carotene, a source of vitamin A, have been linked to an increased risk of cancer. Even turmeric supplements caused liver damage in a small subset of people. newscientist.com/article/23... (Registration is not required to read this article)
Despite knowing this, I still take a few supplements. This is mostly because I am vegetarian and I worry about not consuming enough of the nutrients found in high amounts in meat, such as vitamin B12 and iron. To some degree I view supplements like a nutritional insurance policy, making up for any gaps in my diet. Plus, what is the harm, right? Vitamins are essential for our health after all. But new research has me rethinking this philosophy.
Stanley Hazen at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio and his colleagues found that people with high blood levels of niacin, also known as vitamin B3, are more likely to have a heart attack or stroke than those with lower levels. This is potentially because the body converts excess niacin into a compound called 4PY, which, in rodents, can inflame blood vessels. And, as New Scientist previously reported, inflammation is a major contributor to heart disease." newscientist.com/article/23... " (Registration is not required to read this article)
Specifically, people with elevated levels of 4PY, a compound which only arises when the body breaks down excess niacin, were about 60 per cent more likely, on average, to have a heart attack or stroke than those with lower levels.
From the referenced New Scientist article about the niacin research;
Heart attacks and stroke are leading causes of death worldwide. While researchers have made significant strides over the past few decades in discovering the risk factors for these conditions, they haven’t identified them all.
“If you treat [high] cholesterol and [high] blood pressure and diabetes and all the existing risk factors, you can still suffer a heart attack,” says Stanley Hazen at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. “There is something that we are missing.”
In an effort to fill these gaps, Hazen and his colleagues collected blood samples from 2331 adults in the US and 832 adults in Europe who had elected to undergo cardiovascular screenings. The team analysed the samples for substances called metabolites, byproducts of metabolic processes such as digestion. The researchers then tracked incidents of cardiac events, such as heart attacks and strokes, among the participants over three years.
Here's the Cleveland Clinic research report;
Cleveland Clinic-Led Study Discovers Link between High Levels of Niacin – a Common B Vitamin – and Heart Disease
- Excess Niacin Breakdown Product Fuels Inflammation, Cardiovascular Disease through Newly Discovered Pathway
newsroom.clevelandclinic.or...
"Niacin (vitamin B-3) is very common in a Western diet. “For decades, the United States and more than 50 nations have mandated niacin fortification in staple foods such as flour, cereals and oats to prevent disease related to nutritional deficiency,” said Dr. Hazen. Yet one in four subjects in the researchers’ patient cohorts appear to be getting too much, and had high levels of 4PY, which appears to contribute to cardiovascular disease development.
Dr. Hazen compares our intake of niacin as multiple taps pouring water into a bucket. Once that bucket is filled, it begins to spill over. The human body then needs to process that spill-over and produce other metabolites, including 4PY.
“The main takeaway is not that we should cut out our entire intake of niacin – that’s not a realistic approach,” said Dr. Hazen. “Given these findings, a discussion over whether a continued mandate of flour and cereal fortification with niacin in the U.S. could be warranted.”
Dr. Hazen notes broader use of over-the-counter supplements made with different forms of niacin have also become popular because of presumed anti-aging purposes. He adds that patients should consult with their doctors before taking over-the-counter supplements and focus on a diet rich in fruit and vegetables while avoiding excess carbohydrates. (My emphasis)
The new findings also might help explain why niacin is no longer a go-to treatment for lowering cholesterol. Niacin was one of the first treatments prescribed to lower LDL or “bad” cholesterol. However, eventually niacin showed to be less effective than other cholesterol-lowering drugs and was associated with other negative effects and higher mortality rates in previous research."
Grace Wade concludes with a similar recommendation I've made many times in respect to whether to take a supplement; "Given I am a young woman in the US, I may actually need my iron supplements. But instead of assuming so, I am going to talk with my doctor, who may want to order a blood test to check my levels. Moving forward, I want to be absolutely certain that any supplement I take is necessary for my health and not a fraudulent insurance policy."
Neil
