Multivitamin Use and Cardiovascular Disease Risk

In the September 2016 issue of the Natural Medicine Journal, an article by Douglas MacKay ND looks at the impact of multivitamins on the development of cardiovascular disease.  The article focused on a prospective cohort study by Rautiainen et al that was published in the June 2016 issue of the Journal of Nutrition.  The study included over 18,000 male physicians aged 40 years and above.  All of the participants were cancer and cardiovascular disease free at the beginning of the study (which was 1982).  The study did not find an association between short term multivitamin use and reduced risk of major cardiovascular events (heart attack, stroke, death), but there was a 14% lower risk of cardiac bypass surgery and angioplasty and an 11% lower risk of coronary artery disease (narrowing of arteries/plaque build up) noted with multi vitamin use.  As well, in participants who took a daily multivitamin for more than 20 years, there was a 44% lower risk of major cardiovascular events noted.  The information from this study confirms that a daily multivitamin is supportive for our long term health.  A good quality multivitamin should be in a capsule or liquid (rather than a tablet) form and should be iron free (except for pregnant/breastfeeding women).  It is best to aim for a multivitamin that contains the active/utilizable forms of vitamins/minerals to ensure the most efficient absorption and utilization of the nutrients within the multivitamin.  It is best to take a multivitamin with our morning or noon meal to ensure that we have all/most of our day to be able to use the nutrients in the multivitamin.