Beta-Carotene Helps Prevent Heart Attacks

A large-scale human study shows that high intakes of beta-carotene can cut the risk of heart attack in half for older people. Researchers assessed the diets of 4,802 Dutch men and women in 1990.

The subjects, whose average age was 77, were divided into groups based on their antioxidant intake. During the next four years, 173 of the people in the study had heart attacks. People in the top third of the group for beta-carotene intake from food (2.11 mg/day), had only 55 percent the risk of a heart attack as those in the bottom third (0.84 mg/day).

When beta-carotene intakes from foods and supplements were combined, the risk dipped to 49 percent. The drop in risk was even more impressive for former smokers. Those with the highest beta-carotene intake had only 33 percent of the heart attack risk as former smokers who consumed little beta-carotene.

This is not the first time that beta-carotene has been found help prevent heart attack. A 1997 Italian study measured the association between non-fatal heart attack and the dietary intake of beta-carotene in 433 women who had experienced a heart attack and 869 controls (no heart attack). The risk of non-fatal heart attack was found to decrease with increasing intake of beta-carotene.

Women with the highest beta-carotene intake had a 50% reduction in their risk of heart attack compared to women with the lowest intake. This effect of beta-carotene was attributed to its antioxidant properties. A 1993 study looked at beta-carotene levels in 683 people who had experienced a heart attack and compared them with beta-carotene levels in 727 control subjects. Those subjects who had experienced a heart attack were found to have beta-carotene levels that were, on average, 15% lower than those of persons who had not had a heart attack.

People with low beta-carotene levels had more than 2½ times the risk of heart attack compared to those with high levels. The researchers concluded that high beta-carotene levels reduce the risk of a first heart attack.

Other research has investigated how beta-carotene could prevent heart attacks. Current opinion is that beta-carotene’s antioxidant effects protect blood fats (derived from dietary fats) from harmful oxidation that is implicated in heart attacks.

The Take Home Message · Using beta-carotene supplements could cut your risk of heart attack by up to 50%. · The recommended dosage of beta-carotene for heart attack prevention is 6 – 50 mg per day. · Beta-carotene’s protective effects against heart attack are believed to accrue from its antioxidant properties protecting blood lipids from oxidation.