- Researchers assessed the effects of various micronutrients on cardiovascular and type 2 diabetes risk.
- They found that some micronutrients such as omega-3 fatty acids, curcumin, plus coenzyme Q10 decreased cardio risk but not others.
- They also found that beta-carotene supplements are linked to increased cardiovascular risk and cardiovascular mortality.
- Experts say that further research is needed to understand how these results may apply to dietary recommendations.
Diet and nutrition are important drivers of cardiovascular disease (CVDs) plus type 2 diabetes (T2D).
The American Heart Association recommends diets high in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals and low in saturated fat and sodium to reduce CVD and T2D danger.
Further research into micronutrients is crucial with regard to personalizing preventive strategies for CVDs and T2D.
In a recent study, researchers reviewed 884 randomized controlled trials in order to assess the link between micronutrients plus cardiometabolic risk.
While some micronutrients reduced cardiometabolic risk, others had a neutral effect. Beta-carotene, however , increased CVD danger.
The study was published in the particular Journal of the American College of Cardiology .
For the study, the experts analyzed 884 studies with a total associated with 883, 627 participants.
Data included micronutrient supplementation; nine measures of cardiometabolic risk factors covering blood pressure, blood lipids, and blood sugar levels, and a range of outcome measures including cardio events, diagnosis of T2D, and mortality from stroke, heart disease, and all-cause mortality.
From their analysis, they found that will several micronutrients improved at least two from the nine CVD risk factor measures based on moderate to high quality studies. These included:
- omega-3 fatty acid
- omega-6 essential fatty acid
- L-arginine
- L-citrulline
- folic acid
- magnesium
- zinc
- alpha lipoic acid
- coenzyme Q10
- Anthocyanin
- curcumin
- genistein
- quercetin
They noted that omega-3 fatty acid supplements decreased CVD mortality, coronary heart attacks, and other heart diseases, while folic acid reduced strokes.
Meanwhile, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, plus selenium had no effect on CVD events like heart attack, arrhythmia or even stroke, or associated with T2D and had no impact on longer-term outcomes such as cardiovascular mortality.
These people further discovered that while omega-3 fat acids, omega-6 fatty acids, e vitamin, and beta carotene were not connected to T2D incidence, an analysis of 10 polyphenols found moderate quality evidence for a reduction in HbA1c (a measure associated with longer-term blood sugar levels) for coenzyme Q10 plus reduction in fasting bloodstream insulin levels for flavanol, genistein, and quercetin. There was high quality evidence regarding similar reductions in insulin levels intended for curcumin.
Beta-carotene supplements, however , were linked to a good increased risk of all-cause mortality, CVD mortality, and a reduction in the number of strokes.
To understand how the different micronutrients studied may affect cardiometabolic health, Medical Information Today spoke with Dr . Debbie Fetter , assistant professor within teaching nutrition at the University of California Davis, who was not involved in the research.
“[Nutrients like vitamin C, vitamin E, and beta carotene] function as antioxidants, which helps protect body cells through oxidative damage. […] Antioxidants help prevent the cell membrane from weakening so that carcinogens or rogue compounds can’t get inside. We can think of anti-oxidants as [molecules] that protect us through oxidative harm that may lead indirectly in order to diet-related chronic disease, like CVD. ”
— Doctor Debbie Fetter
Dr. Fetter explained that omega-3 essential fatty acids play an important role in the brain, heart, plus immune system, as well because metabolism. She noted that will research indicates omega-3 intake may lower CVD danger via an anti-inflammatory impact.
She further noted that vitamin D reduces oxidative stress, which improves cardiometabolic outcomes, but that will studies still inconclusive as to whether it assists prevent CVD.
“Magnesium is another essential nutrient that plays a role in muscle and nerve function. Our heart is a muscle, so adequate magnesium is needed to keep our heart properly functioning (i. e. contractions and rhythm), ” she added.
Beta-carotene is a plant pigment that gives vegetables and fruits their red, orange, and yellow colors.
To comprehend what might explain the observed effects of beta-carotene on cardiometabolic risk, MNT spoke with Dr . Ronald Grifka , Chief Medical Officer at the University of Michigan Health-West, not really involved in the study. He noted that several factors might be involved:
“One factor may be the patients did not have a deficiency, and the excessive intake associated with beta-carotene resulted in the higher mortality. Also, beta-carotene might have a different effect upon male plus female patients and on those who are usually smokers or even drinkers. Combining data from multiple studies do not control for these variables, making it difficult to interpret the results. ”
Doctor Fetter stressed that beta-carotene may be beneficial when consumed as the part of food. However, she added that study has shown it will be often harmful when a part of a supplement.
The girl noted that one
“This is a classic example of where we see benefits through getting the nutrient from the whole food, but when we isolate the particular nutrient and put it into supplement form, we observe adverse consequences, ” the girl said.
Dr . Nurgul Fitzgerald , associate professor inside nutrition plus public wellness at Rutgers University, who had been not active in the study, told MNT :
“A potential mechanism might have to do with the antioxidant properties of beta-carotene. Under certain conditions, antioxidants can become pro-oxidant – creating the opposite, dangerous effect. ”
“Beta-carotene supplementation is usually associated with increased risk associated with lung cancer, especially among high risk segments of the population for example people who smoke and. If you consider that smoking is also a cardiovascular disease risk by itself, the supplements might be compounding the particular risk there. ”
— Dr. Nurgul Fitzgerald
The particular researchers concluded that some however, not all micronutrients might benefit cardiometabolic health.
When asked about the study’s limitations, Doctor. Fitzgerald mentioned that it is hard to directly transfer these types of results to everyday lives due to the variety of diet combinations.
“Some nutrients work better or worse when we consume them within certain amounts or eat them along with other nutrition. Nutrients can have synergistic effects on one another, along with other components in our foods may hinder the absorption of some associated with the nutrients. ”
She additional that the particular United States and other countries regularly add vitamins or minerals in order to certain foods meaning that the effects of supplementation might vary amongst different nations.
Doctor Grifkadded that will the research assessed various doses of various micronutrients over varying periods of time, which could have resulted in ‘markedly’ different effects.
“If several micronutrients are included in a patient’s daily consumption, one micronutrient may offset the effect of the other or even amplify the particular effect associated with another, additional confusing the clinical outcomes, ” he continued.
“It would be important to identify the particular specific dosages and individual participants’ characteristics to much better understand the findings, ” Dr. Fetter concluded.