Do you agree with this study based on previous studies on homocysteine
levels and C-Reactive Protein? Were the patients' diet uniform?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050905/ap_on_he_me/vitamin_b&printer=1
Vitamin B Pills May Not Stop Heart Attacks By EMMA ROSS, AP Medical Writer
1 hour, 59 minutes ago

Folic acid and vitamin B pills do not ward off heart attacks or strokes and
may even be harmful when combined, new research suggests.

Studies showing that the vitamins lower levels of a substance in the blood
suspected of playing a role in the development of heart disease have
prompted hundreds of thousands of heart patients in the developed world to
take them.

However, the first large study of the question, presented Monday at a
meeting of the European Society of Cardiology, found that although the
supplements dramatically lowered the levels of homocysteine, they offered no
heart protection.

"The message is clear here: Don't take folate or B-6 in the hope that it
will stop you having a heart attack or stroke. If there was a real major
effect, they would have seen it," said Dr. Peter Weissberg, medical director
of the British Heart Foundation, which was not connected with the study.

Other experts said the findings will also stir the debate over whether
homocysteine has any role at all in the development of heart disease.

In the study, conducted by Dr. Kaare Harald Bonaa, a professor of cardiology
at the University of Tromso in Norway, 3,749 heart attack survivors were
divided into four groups. In addition to standard heart medicines, one group
took high dose vitamin B pills every day for three years. Another took high
dose folic acid. A third group took both pills every day and the fourth
group took fake pills.

There was no difference in the groups taking fake pills, vitamin B or folic
acid when it came to new heart attacks or strokes. However, there were 20
percent more heart attacks and strokes among the group that took both pills.

Those who fared worst were patients who also had kidney problems, and those
who reported they also take other vitamin supplements, the study found.

"This is the latest in a series of things that when tested in a scientific
way don't actually pan out the way people expected," said Dr. Ray Gibbons, a
professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic who was not connected with the
research.

Homocysteine levels in the blood are often higher in people with heart
disease. Some scientists therefore believe that lowering the substance might
help prevent heart trouble. However, no study has ever shown that reducing
concentrations improve heart conditions or prevent heart disease. For that
reason, the role of homocysteine in the development of heart disease is
hotly debated.

Folates, such as folic acid and vitamin B, are known to reduce the levels of
homocysteine in the blood. That's why hundreds of thousands of people take
them, sometimes on the advice of their doctors.

"These things are very attractive to patients because they are perceived as
natural, inexpensive and they are widely advertised," said Gibbons,
president-elect of the American Heart Association. "Many people have the
perception that they are equivalent" to heavily researched pharmaceuticals.

"Taking something that has no beneficial effect is a bad idea, for several
reasons," Gibbons said.

It's a waste of money, he said.

Also, it's hard enough for heart patients to take the fistful of pills that
are proven to help them and there's a limit to how many they can tolerate
taking. Adding another one only makes it less likely that they will take
their real medication properly, Gibbons said.

"I'm going to purposely educate everybody I see that the folic acid they are
taking has just been tested and the single large study to test it didn't
find any benefit at all," he said. "I'm going to ask them if they are taking
B-6 or a multivitamin that contains B-6 - and many of them are - and I'm
going to point out that this study showed that this combination is harmful."

Other vitamins found to be either useless or potentially harmful are vitamin
E and beta-carotene, the precursor of vitamin A.