![Debate: Vitamin Therapy Still Capable of Reducing Stroke Risk Debate: Vitamin Therapy Still Capable of Reducing Stroke Risk](https://images.medindia.net/health-images/1200_1000/chest-pain.jpg)
Vitamin B therapy was once widely used to lower homocysteine levels. Too much of this amino acid in the bloodstream was linked to increased risk of stroke and heart attack.
But several randomised trials found lowering homocysteine levels with B vitamins did not result in a cardiovascular benefit.
And a study by Dr. Spence, a scientist with the Robarts Research Institute at Western's Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, found Vitamin B therapy actually increased cardiovascular risk in patients with diabetic nephropathy.
Dr. Spence said the study provides insights that overturn the widespread belief that "homocysteine is dead."
He noted that two key issues have been overlooked in the interpretation of the clinical trials: the key role of vitamin B12, and the newly recognized role of renal failure.
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"The vitamins are harmful in renal failure, and beneficial in patients with good renal function, and they cancel each other out," he added.
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Their findings appeared in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Source-ANI