Another Miracle Supplement Fails

[Guest guest]

During the resveratol discussion, I mentioned that the

" natural history " of most " miracle " supplements is

that they come and go and known of them have ever

lasted.

Now, another one, very popular a few years back, with

everyone jumping on the bandwagon to test for the need

and recommend it, fails.

Regards

Jeff

this is why we have to err on the side of caution in

all and any recommendations for supplements.

Another popular supplement we have and have been

recommeding has been shown to be worthless

Jeff (and the team)

Cremation of the homocysteine hypothesis: Another

folic-acid trial fails to impress

Nov 13, 2006 Nainggolan

Chicago, IL - Yet another study has shown no benefit

of folic acid and B vitamins in the secondary

prevention of cardiovascular events [1]. Dr

M Albert (Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA)

reported the findings of the Women's Antioxidant and

Folic Acid Cardiovascular Study (WAFACS) in a

late-breaking clinical-trial session here today. There

was no benefit of the supplements in a subgroup of

high-risk primary-prevention patients, either.

The hypothesis that folic-acid/vitamin-B

supplementation leads to a reduction in homocysteine

and a subsequent lowering of cardiovascular events has

already been declared " dead " as a result of a number

of randomized studies that failed to show any benefit,

including HOPE-2, NORVIT, and VISP.

" At this point, all of the data suggest that taking

folic acid and B vitamins specifically to prevent

heart disease is not effective, and if you are taking

them just for cardiovascular-disease prevention, you

may want to stop, " Albert told a press conference.

However, she emphasized that there has been no

suggestion of harm in any of the studies and that

there are other, noncardiac reasons to take these

supplements.

Albert and colleagues were also able to examine the

effect of folic-acid fortification of foods in the US

because baseline blood samples were taken from the

women before the mandate to fortify foods, during the

late 1990s. Fortification did not appear to account

for the null findings in their study.

No difference between groups in any of the end points

WAFACS was a randomized controlled study comparing the

effects of placebo with a daily combination of 2.5 mg

folic acid, 50 mg vitamin B6, and 1 mg vitamin B12—the

same regimen used in HOPE-2—in reducing the risk of

major cardiovascular events over seven years in 5442

female health professionals participating in the

larger Women's Antioxidant Cardiovascular Study

(WACS).

Participants were over the age of 40, and two thirds

of them had a history of CVD; the remainder had three

or more risk factors (high-risk primary-prevention

subgroup).

The primary end point was a combined outcome of MI,

stroke, revascularization, or cardiovascular death.

Over an average of 7.29 years of follow-up, there was

no difference in the primary end point between the

active-treatment group and those receiving placebo (RR

1.03; p=0.65), nor was there any difference between

the two groups in any of the secondary end points.

Fortification of food does not explain absence of

benefit

When they tried to tease out the effects of fortifying

food with folic acid in a subsample of 300

participants, the researchers found that there was an

increase in folic-acid concentration in the placebo

group as a result of fortification, but this increase

was not sufficient to affect homocysteine levels,

which were identical in the placebo group at baseline

and at the end of follow-up.

In contrast, those in the active-treatment group had

much higher folic-acid levels at the end of follow-up,

translating into 18% lower homocysteine levels (10.0

µmol/L at the end of the study compared with 12.2

µmol/L at baseline; p<0.001), but this still did not

translate into any benefit in terms of CVD.

This seems to support the idea that homocysteine is a

marker for preexisting CVD rather than a risk factor

in itself, Albert said.

Will the AHA changes guidelines?

The discussant of the study, Dr Rita F Redberg

(University of California, San Francisco), said that

the study was valid and that it provided a definitive

answer to the question posed. But whether this will

change behavior is a different matter, she said.

" People are given a false sense of security by taking

vitamins, which cost money, and then thinking they

don't need to eat healthily or do exercise, " she

lamented.

" We have learned an important lesson. One is reminded

of what we learned from HRT—the importance of

randomized clinical trials to test hypotheses

generated by experimental and observational data. " She

added that it was " likely " that the AHA will change

its guidelines on folic acid and B vitamins as a

result of this and other studies.

Source

Albert C. A randomized trial of folic acid and

B-vitamins in the secondary prevention of

cardiovascular events in women: Results from the

Women's Antioxidant and Folic Acid Cardiovascular

Study (WAFACS). American Heart Association 2006

Scientific Sessions; November 13, 2006; Chicago, IL.

PS.03.Late-Breaking Clinical Trials I.

[Guest guest]

I agree that these fads come and go. It's especially suspicious when the supplement in question seems to be the " miracle " cure all or the fountain of youth. IIRC a couple of years ago, it was alpha lipoic acid taken with another supplement whose name escapes me (but which I still have plenty of in my pantry). When I began CRON, guar was touted as the way to appease hunger (and I still have plenty of that in my closet). Although at least guar was not touted as a miracle, just an appetite suppressant (and in my case it failed to do that).

Although I'm drinking my wine and no longer feel guilty having an extra glass of wine or two, it's hard to believe that this is indeed the fountain of youth. Still the studies posted are impressive.

on 11/14/2006 3:36 PM, Jeff Novick at chefjeff40@... wrote:

During the resveratol discussion, I mentioned that the

" natural history " of most " miracle " supplements is

that they come and go and known of them have ever

lasted.

[Guest guest]

>IIRC a couple of years ago, it was alpha

> lipoic acid taken with

> another supplement whose name escapes me

Juvenon based on the research of Bruce Ames

Acetyl L Carnitine and Alpha Lipoic Acid..

" made the mice get up and do the Macarena "