The following information is from Dr. Jeffrey Blumberg from Tufts University via Dr. Stephen Chaney.
Today we're going to look at a study called the "The Women's Antioxidant and Folic Acid Cardiovascular Study".
I've already told you that in the same study vitamin E reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease by 23% for those women with a previous history of cardiovascular disease (Cook et al., Arch. Intern. Med., 167: 1610 - 1618, 2007).
Today I'm going to talk about the results of another part of the study - the effects of B vitamins on the risk of invasive cancer, particularly breast cancer, in women.
In this portion of the study 5442 female health professionals received a daily vitamin pill containing
2.5 mg of folate, 50 mg of vitamin B6 and 1 mg of vitamin B12 or a placebo and were followed for an average of 7.3 years.
The headlines that you may have seen said "B vitamins do not prevent total cancer or breast cancer in women".
But, once again, the headlines did not tell the whole story.
In the women who were 65 years old or older, B vitamin supplementation reduced the risk of total invasive cancer by 25% and the risk of breast cancer by 38%. So the headlines could just as well have said "B vitamins reduce the risk of total cancer and breast cancer in older women".
But I guess that wasn't deemed to be newsworthy.
Dr. Stephen Chaney, PhD
How you can get all B vitamins, is simple. Click here.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
An aspirin a day
Another popular myth has been busted!
I'm sure that you have heard this one before.
Many doctors advise their patients to take a baby aspirin every day to reduce their risk of heart attack.
Is this good advice?
Probably not, accordingly to a new study done by Dr.
Gerry Fowlkes of the Wolfson Unit for Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Edinburgh Scotland.
In a study that he presented at the most recent meeting of the European Society for Cardiology in Barcelona Spain he and his colleagues followed 3,000 men at very high risk for developing heart disease for an average of eight years.
Half of the group was randomly assigned to take an aspirin every day and the other half was given a placebo.
At the end of eight years there was no difference in the rate of heart attacks or stroke - or risk of death from any cause - between the two groups.
In other words, an aspirin a day did not decrease the risk of heart attack and stroke and had no discernable health benefits in this study.
Even worse, there were 34 major bleeds in people taking the aspirin compared to only 20 in people taking the placebo.
And if you looked at internal bleeding that was so serious that it required hospitalization, the risk was almost double for the aspirin users compared to the placebo users.
The conclusion of this study was that for otherwise healthy people the risks of taking aspirin outweigh the benefits.
The scientists cautioned that for people who have already had a heart attack the benefits of taking an aspirin a day might outweigh the risks.
But I would encourage you to investigate natural alternates rather than relying on a drug to reduce your risk of heart disease.
For example several recent clinical studies have shown that as little as 500 mg/day of omega-3 fatty acids, whether from fish or from supplements, can reduce the risk of a second heart attack in someone who has already had one heart attack by 30-40%.
And, of course, the Landmark study showed that people who have used the Shaklee supplements for 20 years or more have 1/3 the incidence of angina, heart attack, stroke or congestive heart failure as do people using other company's multivitamins or no supplements at all.
Information was provided by Dr. Stephen Chaney
For information on Shaklee products, click here.
I'm sure that you have heard this one before.
Many doctors advise their patients to take a baby aspirin every day to reduce their risk of heart attack.
Is this good advice?
Probably not, accordingly to a new study done by Dr.
Gerry Fowlkes of the Wolfson Unit for Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Edinburgh Scotland.
In a study that he presented at the most recent meeting of the European Society for Cardiology in Barcelona Spain he and his colleagues followed 3,000 men at very high risk for developing heart disease for an average of eight years.
Half of the group was randomly assigned to take an aspirin every day and the other half was given a placebo.
At the end of eight years there was no difference in the rate of heart attacks or stroke - or risk of death from any cause - between the two groups.
In other words, an aspirin a day did not decrease the risk of heart attack and stroke and had no discernable health benefits in this study.
Even worse, there were 34 major bleeds in people taking the aspirin compared to only 20 in people taking the placebo.
And if you looked at internal bleeding that was so serious that it required hospitalization, the risk was almost double for the aspirin users compared to the placebo users.
The conclusion of this study was that for otherwise healthy people the risks of taking aspirin outweigh the benefits.
The scientists cautioned that for people who have already had a heart attack the benefits of taking an aspirin a day might outweigh the risks.
But I would encourage you to investigate natural alternates rather than relying on a drug to reduce your risk of heart disease.
For example several recent clinical studies have shown that as little as 500 mg/day of omega-3 fatty acids, whether from fish or from supplements, can reduce the risk of a second heart attack in someone who has already had one heart attack by 30-40%.
And, of course, the Landmark study showed that people who have used the Shaklee supplements for 20 years or more have 1/3 the incidence of angina, heart attack, stroke or congestive heart failure as do people using other company's multivitamins or no supplements at all.
Information was provided by Dr. Stephen Chaney
For information on Shaklee products, click here.
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