Vitamin B6 and Folate Help Prevent Stroke and Heart Failure
Tue, May 11, 2010 at 02:01AM Whether vitamin B6 or folate can help prevent cardiovascular disease has been a matter of some controversy. Some studies say “yes”, others “no”. Researchers from the Japanese Collaborative Cohort Study have posted results in the journal Stroke that provide results for an Asian population that are positive.
Totals of 23,000 men and 35,500 women, aged 40 to 79, were enrolled and followed for an average of 14 years. Food frequency questionnaires provided information that could be used to determine the individual intake of vitamins B6, B12, and folate; the participants were classified into 5 groups (“quintiles”) according to their intake of each of these substances.
Comparing the lowest vs. the highest quintiles for each nutrient, it was found that higher consumption of vitamin B6 and folate was linked to significantly lower mortality from heart failure in men, and stroke, heart disease, and any cardiovascular disease in women. These effects persisted even after adjustment for existing cardiovascular risk factors at enrollment. Vitamin B12 intake wasn’t linked to a reduced mortality risk, though.
It seems clear from this study that high dietary intakes of vitamin B6 and folate were associated with reduced mortality from stroke, heart attack, and heart failure in Japanese. Whether similar results are obtainable in long-term studies in US men and women remains to be seen. In the meantime, you can get vitamin B6 in spinach, bell peppers, turnip greens, garlic, tuna, cauliflower, banana, celery, cabbage, mushrooms, asparagus, and broccoli. Folate sources include fortified cereals, spinach, beef liver, asparagus, beans, peas, broccoli, and fortified egg noodles.
Reader Comments (1)
That earlier, impressive study from Saudi Arabia, along with others, is described in our full research paper on vitamin D for pain.