RCTHumann = 14,6412008
Vitamins E and C in the prevention of cardiovascular disease in men: the Physicians' Health Study II randomized controlled trial.
Plain-language summary
This trial asked whether taking vitamin E or vitamin C for years lowers the rate of heart attacks, strokes and heart deaths in men. The Physicians' Health Study II randomly assigned 14,641 US male doctors aged 50 and over, 754 of whom already had cardiovascular disease, to 400 IU of vitamin E every other day, 500 mg of vitamin C daily, both, or placebo, and followed them for a mean of eight years, during which 1,245 major cardiovascular events occurred. Neither vitamin changed the rate of those events. Vitamin E did not show a significant change in any of them and went with more hemorrhagic strokes, the kind caused by bleeding rather than by a clot. Neither vitamin changed the death rate from any cause.
Key findings
- Vitamin E (400 IU every other day) did not reduce major cardiovascular events, heart attacks, strokes, or heart-related deaths.
- Vitamin C (500 mg daily) also had no effect on these outcomes.
- Vitamin E was linked to a 74% higher risk of bleeding strokes.
- Neither vitamin affected overall mortality.
How to analyze the study yourself
- Study type
- Randomized trials assign people to groups by chance, so differences between groups are unlikely to come from who chose what, but they may not reflect effects in people with different risks or lifestyles.
- Population
- US male doctors aged 50+, mostly without existing heart disease.
- Funding
- NIH extramural research support
- Takeaway
- This large trial found that neither vitamin E nor vitamin C lowered heart attacks, strokes or heart deaths in men over eight years, and vitamin E went with more bleeding strokes. If you take vitamin E or vitamin C to protect your heart, this trial says they do not, and the money and effort go further on blood pressure, weight and aerobic fitness.