Supplementing with vitamin C could reduce your risk of major heart disease events like heart attack, suggests a new analysis of studies. An international team of researchers pooled data from nine prospective studies. They included information on intakes of vitamin E, carotenoids and vitamin C, with a 10-year follow-up to check for major heart disease incidents in people without the disease when the study began.

The researchers found that dietary intake of antioxidant vitamins was only weakly related to a reduced coronary heart disease risk. However, subjects who took daily vitamin C supplements of more than 700 mg appeared to reduce their risk of heart disease events by 25% compared to those who took no supplements.

Earlier this year, researchers at the University of California produced results showing that vitamin C appears to reduce levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation and possibly a better predictor of heart disease than cholesterol levels.

Dec 13, 2004-12-22