Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) — A study published on Sunday revealed that six nutritional supplements that people usually consume for heart health do not help reduce “bad” cholesterol or improve cardiovascular health.
Some believe that common supplements such as fish oil, garlic, cinnamon, turmeric, plant sterols, and red yeast rice will lower their LDL cholesterol.
“Bad” cholesterol, known to the medical community as low-density lipoprotein, can cause fatty deposits to build up in artery walls.
Fat deposits can prevent the flow of oxygen and blood that the heart needs to function, and clogged arteries can cause a heart attack or stroke.
For this study, which was presented at the 2022 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions and published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers compared the effect of these supplements in particular with that of a low-dose cholesterol-lowering statin, or a placebo that had no effect.
The researchers performed this comparison in a randomized, single-blind clinical trial involving 190 adults with no prior history of cardiovascular disease.
The ages of the study participants ranged between 40 and 75 years, and different groups of them received a low dose of a statin drug called rosuvastatin, a placebo, and nutritional supplements such as fish oil, cinnamon, garlic, turmeric, plant sterols, or yeast rice. red for 28 days.
Statins had the greatest effect, significantly lowering LDL compared to both the dietary supplement and the placebo.
The average LDL drop 28 days after receiving the statin was approximately 40%.
Receiving a statin resulted in an additional benefit on total cholesterol, which decreased on average by 24 percent, and on blood triglycerides, which decreased by 19 percent.
None of the participants who received the supplements saw a significant decrease in LDL, total cholesterol, or triglycerides, and their results were similar to those who received a placebo in the study.
And while there were similar adverse events in all groups, there were more problems among those who took plant sterols or red yeast rice.
“We designed this study because many of us have gone through the same experience trying to recommend proven therapies that reduce cardiovascular risk for patients who resort to supplementation,” said study co-author Dr. Carol Watson, a professor of cardiology and co-director of the University of California Program in Preventive Cardiology. Just”,
“We wanted to design a very rigorous, randomized, controlled experimental study to demonstrate what we already know and demonstrate in a rigorous manner,” Watson added.
Dr. Steven Nissen, a cardiologist and researcher at the Cleveland Clinic and co-author of the study, explained that patients often do not know that nutritional supplements have not been tested in clinical trials.
Nissen calls these supplements “21st Century Snake Oil.”
In the United States, the Dietary Supplements and Health Education Act of 1994 severely limited the ability of the Food and Drug Administration to regulate dietary supplements.
And unlike pharmaceutical products that must be proven safe and effective for their intended use before a company can market them, the Food and Drug Administration does not have to approve dietary supplements before they can be sold.
Only after it has been put on the market and proven to be unsafe can the Food and Drug Administration step in to regulate it.
Nissen noted that patients believe studies have been done on supplements and that they are as effective as statins and can save them because they are natural.
“Just because it’s natural doesn’t mean it’s safe, and it doesn’t mean it’s effective,” he added.
The study was funded by an unrestricted grant from AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, which makes rosuvastatin.
According to the study, the company had no input on methodology, data analysis, and discussion of clinical implications.
The researchers acknowledge some limitations in the study, including the small study sample size and 28-day study period, which may not reflect the effect of supplements when used for a longer period.
In a statement issued Sunday, the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a trade association for the nutritional supplement industry, clarified that “supplements are not intended to replace medications or other medical treatments.”
“Dietary supplements are not intended as quick fixes, and their effects may not be revealed during a four-week study only,” Andrea Wong, the group’s vice president for scientific and regulatory affairs, said in a statement.
Amit Khera, chair of the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions Programming Committee, who was not involved in the study, said he thought this was an important study to include during this year’s Heart Association sessions.
Khera noted that his patients always ask about taking supplements instead of statins, or receiving them as an extra layer of protection.
“I think if there is high-quality evidence and a good study, it’s really important to help inform patients of the value, or in this case the lack of value, of some of these cholesterol-lowering supplements.”
Khaira explained that cholesterol-lowering drugs have been around for more than 30 years and have been studied by more than 170,000 people. Consistently, studies show that taking statins reduces the risk.