Cardiovascular Benefits Seen With Folate, B6 in Japanese

Dietary intake tied to lower mortality from stroke, CHD, total CVD in women, from heart failure in men

THURSDAY, April 15 (HealthDay News) -- Among middle-aged and older Japanese, high dietary intake of folate and vitamin B6 is linked to lower risk of mortality from stroke, coronary heart disease, and heart failure, according to research published in the April 15 issue of Stroke.

Renzhe Cui, M.D., of Osaka University in Japan, and colleagues analyzed data from 58,730 men and women, aged 40 to 79 years, who completed a food frequency questionnaire as part of the Japan Collaborative Cohort Study. Participants were free of cardiovascular disease and cancer history at baseline, and they were followed for a median of 14 years.

The researchers found that dietary folate and vitamin B6 intake was associated with lower mortality from heart failure for men, and lower mortality from stroke, coronary heart disease, and total cardiovascular disease in women. The results weren't substantially different after adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors or after excluding participants taking multivitamin supplements.

"We found inverse associations between folate and vitamin B6 intakes and risk of mortality from stroke and coronary heart disease for Japanese, which were consistent with previous reports of Americans and Europeans. Further, this study is the first to show that high dietary intakes of folate and vitamin B6 were associated with reduced risk of heart failure mortality for men. Mechanisms for these observed associations may involve the effects of these vitamin intakes on reduction of blood homocysteine concentrations," the authors write.

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