Eating a heart-healthy diet is beneficial to your heart. However, you may ask if taking heart-healthy vitamins and other nutritional supplements would help you avoid cardiovascular disease even more.
The bottom line is that we don’t suggest heart health supplements to treat or prevent cardiovascular disease. In fact, you shouldn’t pay for supplements.
1. Vitamins & supplements aren’t effective in preventing heart disease.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins looked at hundreds of thousands of individuals in randomized clinical studies. Some were given the best daily multivitamins, and others were given a placebo. They found no indication of advantages for cardiovascular disease. Supplements were useless and ineffective.
Omega-3 or fish oil pills are one potential exception. This fatty acid, which may be found in fish and marine algae, is beneficial to the heart. For most individuals, two servings of fatty fish per week are plenty. Supplements may be helpful for individuals who don’t receive enough omega-3 in their diet, researchers said.
2. Supplements & vitamins may be dangerous.
While there is no apparent advantage to supplements based on studies, taking too many vitamins may be hazardous. Too much calcium and vitamin D are linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. There is very little proof that any quantity of vitamin D supplementation can protect the heart.
Another danger is that you may not always receive what you see on the label. According to investigations, many tablets containing medicinal plants are instead filled with fillers such as powdered rice or even hazardous chemicals. Some don’t even have the herbs listed on the labels.
Supplement manufacturing is not controlled by the FDA. The business is not required to show health benefits, so they may use ambiguous language like ‘good for heart health’—but they can’t claim ‘will reduce blood pressure.
3. The most excellent source of the nutrients your heart needs is food.
Your body needs a variety of vitamins, which must be obtained through diet. Supplements not only lack evidence of benefit, but they also often include abnormally high dosages of restricted kinds of nutritional components.
Food offers a complete range of antioxidants, not simply a few in large doses. For example, there are over 600 distinct kinds of carotenoids (an antioxidant). A diverse diet is much more likely to provide these antioxidants than a single medication.
What Are the Finest Vitamins for Heart Health?
However, there are times when even doctors will be bound to suggest supplements. Because there is a lack of overall nutrients in your diet/routine!
While many excellent supplements may improve heart health, none of them is a miracle pill against heart disease. Supplements are most effective when combined with a heart-healthy diet, frequent exercise, and excellent sleep habits.
Six nutrients may help you live a healthier lifestyle:
- Omega-3 fatty acids
- Magnesium
- Inositol
- Folate
- Extract from grape seeds
- Coenzyme Q10
Look for supplements that have the USP Verified logo on them as well. The USP is a non-profit organization that establishes nationally recognized public quality standards for dietary supplements. Their approval signifies that the product has fulfilled high-quality requirements.
