Sunday, February 14, 2010

Can I take a vitamin to prevent a heart attack or chest pain?

Unfortunately there is no evidence which shows that vitamins can either prevent or treat a heart attack. There are many alternative health care practitioners who recommend mega doses of vitamins for every medical disorder underneath the sun. However, there is not one scientific study which has shown that vitamins can cure or prevent a heart attack. Moreover, if you start mucking around with chest pain at home and treat it with vitamins, you may end up dead.

Vitamins may be taken as a health supplement for overall health but are not a substitute for traditional treatments for a heart attack. Laboratory studies have shown that vitamin C and E can lower bad cholesterol and reduce fat build up in blood vessels. However, no human study has shown that vitamins alone can prevent a heart attack. The risk factors for heart disease are obesity, high cholesterol, uncontrolled high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, lack of exercise. No one has even shown that lack of any vitamin can cause a heart attack.

Why vitamins are recommended for treatment of heart attacks in the first place is a mystery. For all consumers, if you have no documented deficiency of vitamins than there is no need to take any supplements.

Even if you have a deficiency of a vitamin, which is preferable- decent juicy fresh fruits and vegetables or a cardboard pill made from the Orient which may be a fake or contain contaminants?

If you have chest pain, stop fooling around with vitamins- take whatever heart pill your doctor recommended.

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