Cardiology Today board members were polled in a five-year follow-up survey on their choice of supplements

Five years ago, Cardiology Today asked the cardiologists on our editorial board what daily vitamins and supplements they take and what type of diet they regularly adhere to.

This month, we followed up with our board to see what, if anything, has changed in their diet and vitamin regimen. Several doctors still feel that there is a lack of evidence that shows any benefits from a daily multi-vitamin, while others have introduced new supplements, such as shark cartilage for osteoarthritis.

Their responses are below.

No Vitamins/Supplements: 2000 (11) vs. 2005 (9).

Rita Redberg, MD, on the Preventive Cardiology section, said she does not take any vitamins or supplements because “there have been no studies showing any benefit of any dietary supplements.” She said she tries to eat a healthy diet and “leaves it at that.”

Vitamins C and E: 2000 (8) vs. 2005 (2).

George Bakris, MD, on the Hypertension and Vascular Disease section, takes no vitamin E but takes “one gram of vitamin C because of its efficacy to reduce colds during the winter.”

Peter Block, MD, said, “When I learned that one had to take ‘pounds’ of antioxidants such as vitamin E in order to make a difference, I quit.”

Daily Multivitamin: 2000 (5) vs. 2005 (7).

Bakris also favors a daily multivitamin because he doesn’t “eat a balanced menu.”

On the other side of the vitamin debate, Elliot Rapaport, MD, doesn’t “take any vitamin supplements since my daily diet incorporates the essential vitamins well beyond the usual minimum daily requirement and there is little or no evidence that large supplemental doses of any of the vitamins have altered CAD outcomes.”

Folate/Folic Acid: 2000 (4) vs. 2005 (3).

Allan Jaffe, MD, has recently started to take folate “for a recently detected elevated homocysteine level,” while Jonathan Abrams, MD, has “stopped prescribing folate without obtaining a homocysteine level first.”

Roger Blumenthal, MD, gets his 400 ug of daily folate in his multivitamin.

Ray Woosley, MD, has stopped taking folate completely “due to data from trials.”

Calcium: 2000 (1) vs. 2005 (2).

Melvin Cheitlin, MD, takes 1000 mg of calcium daily “for bones and for the antioxidant activity.”

Aspirin: 2005 (2) not counted in 2000.

Thomas Bashore, MD, takes aspirin everyday along with Cheitlin, who takes an 81 mg tab of aspirin daily which he said is “influenced by the Harvard Physician’s study.”

B6: 2000 (2) vs. 2005 (1).

Jaffe has taken this supplement for years to “help with carpal tunnel syndrome.” – by Craig Whitaker