Open AccessAntioxidants and heart disease: Epidemiology and clinical evidence
Author(s) -
Hennekens Charles H.,
Gaziano J. Michael
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
clinical cardiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.263
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1932-8737
pISSN - 0160-9289
DOI - 10.1002/clc.4960161305
Subject(s) - medicine , epidemiology , disease , clinical trial , vascular disease , randomized controlled trial , antioxidant , vitamin e , cohort study , intensive care medicine , physiology , biochemistry , chemistry
One in three Americans will eventually die of cardiovascular disease. Antioxidant vitamins, which are postulated to reduce risk by about 20–30%, could have substantial clinical and public health impact. Basic research, clinical observation, and epidemiology have contributed to an emerging body of evidence on the atherogenicity of oxidized low‐density lipoprotein, which could be an important mechanism to explain why antioxidant vitamins may decrease risk of coronary disease. The antioxidant‐vitamin/cardiovascular‐disease hypothesis has recently been explored in several large prospective cohort studies, but the findings were not all consistent. In several randomized, small‐scale trials using subjects with existing vascular disease, data indicate benefits associated with vitamin E and β carotene. Over the next several years, data from a number of ongoing primary prevention trials and proposed secondary prevention trials should determine whether antioxidant vitamins decrease risk of vascular disease.