Oxidants, Antioxidants and Disease Prevention - Aara-Super food

Oxidants and Antioxidants 17
TABLE 9
Cardiovascular disease prevention trials
Scientist/ Endpoint Study Sample Treatment Projected
country group size completion
Heinonen/Finland Cardiovascular Male 29.000 ß-Carotene and Study completed.
events smokers vitamin E See text for discussion
of results.
Hennekens/USA Cardiovascular Male 22.000 ß-Carotene (with 1996
events physicians and without (Preliminary results for
aspirin) subgroup already
reported – see text)
Buring/USA Cardiovascular Women over 45.000 ß-Carotene and 1998
events age 50 vitamin E (with
and without
aspirin)
Peto and Collins/ Cardiovascular Subjects at 20.000 ß-Carotene, 2000
UK events 5-year risk vitamin E and
of myocardial
vitamin C (with
infarction
and without simvastatin)
Source: Antioxidant Vitamins Newsletter, June 1992 and January 1993. Updated and reprinted with permission.
A fourth study, the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta Carotene
Cancer Prevention Trial, conducted among 29.000 male
smokers in Finland and designed primarily to study the
effect of vitamin E and ß-carotene supplementation on
lung cancer, was recently completed (see the cancer
section of this monograph). The Finnish smokers who
received vitamin E supplements appeared to have lower
risks of death from ischæmic heart disease and ischæmic
stroke, but an increased risk of death from hæmorrhagic
stroke. There were also more deaths from ischæmic heart
disease among subjects who were taking ß-carotene.
To obtain preliminary information about the effect of
ß - c a rotene on cardiovascular risk, the investigators
conducting the study of U.S. male physicians analysed the
data for one small subgroup of their study population —
the 333 men with a history of angina. In this high-risk
group, those taking ß-carotene (50 mg on alternate days
for 2 years or more) showed a 54% reduction in new
c a rdiovascular events compared to those taking a
placebo.