Regimens: Antioxidants Don’t Lessen Strokes for at-Risk Women

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR
Supplements of the antioxidants beta carotene, vitamin C and vitamin E may be good for you, but a new study reports that they have no effect, either alone or in combination, in preventing heart attack, stroke or death among women at risk for cardiovascular disease.
Researchers randomly assigned more than 8,000 women to take regular doses of vitamin E, vitamin C, beta carotene or placebos, and followed them for more than nine years. All the women, whose average age was 60, either had had cardiovascular disease or were at high risk for it. During the nine years, 1,450 women had a heart attack, a stroke or cardiac surgery, and there were 395 deaths from heart disease.
Women in the vitamin E group had a slight decrease in disease compared with the placebo group, but it was not statistically significant. Neither beta carotene nor vitamin C had any statistically significant effect compared with placebo.
Combinations of the antioxidants had no effect either, except for a slight reduction in stroke among those taking both vitamins C and E together. The study appears in the Aug. 13 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine.
“While the individual supplements may not decrease risk,” said Nancy R. Cook, the lead author and an associate professor of epidemiology at Harvard, “it does seem that diets high in fruits and vegetables that contain these antioxidants are helpful. It may be that we haven’t identified the particular nutrients or combinations of nutrients that might be beneficial.”