SynthesisBMJ (Clinical research ed.)2013
Efficacy of vitamin and antioxidant supplements in prevention of cardiovascular disease: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.
Synthesis in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 208 papers, 19 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
208 citing papers in PubMed, 19 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 457 citations in OpenAlex.
- Circulating Lycopene and β-Carotene Levels Are Inversely Associated with Carotid Intima-Media Thickness: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2026Pooled it
- Interventions for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease: umbrella review of systematic reviews.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2025Pooled it
- EASL-EASD-EASO Clinical Practice Guidelines on the Management of Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD).Obesity facts · 2024Guideline
- Vitamin D and Multiple Health Outcomes: An Umbrella Review of Observational Studies, Randomized Controlled Trials, and Mendelian Randomization Studies.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2022Pooled it
- Association of the Coexistence of Somnipathy and Diabetes With the Risks of Cardiovascular Disease Events, Stroke, and All-Cause Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2022Pooled it
- Vitamin C Intake and Ischemic Stroke.Frontiers in nutrition · 2022Pooled it
- Impact and efficacy of mobile health intervention in the management of diabetes and hypertension: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open diabetes research & care · 2020Pooled it
- Association Between Folate and Health Outcomes: An Umbrella Review of Meta-Analyses.Frontiers in public health · 2020Pooled it
- Strategies to decrease oxidative stress biomarker levels in human medical conditions: A meta-analysis on 8-iso-prostaglandin FRedox biology · 2018Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Application and Effectiveness of mHealth Interventions for Obesity and Diabetes Treatment and Self-Management.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2017Pooled it
- Non-skeletal health effects of vitamin D supplementation: A systematic review on findings from meta-analyses summarizing trial data.PloS one · 2017Pooled it
- Dietary Supplements and Risk of Cause-Specific Death, Cardiovascular Disease, and Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Primary Prevention Trials.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2017Pooled it
- Effects of the Mediterranean Diet on Cardiovascular Outcomes-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.PloS one · 2016Pooled it
- Variation in the SLC23A1 gene does not influence cardiometabolic outcomes to the extent expected given its association with L-ascorbic acid.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2015Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of 130,000 individuals shows smoking does not modify the association of APOE genotype on risk of coronary heart disease.Atherosclerosis · 2014Pooled it
- Vitamin D and multiple health outcomes: umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of observational studies and randomised trials.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2014Pooled it
- Vitamin D supplementation for prevention of mortality in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2014Pooled it
- Influence of vitamin E supplementation on glycaemic control: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.PloS one · 2014Pooled it
- Vitamin C intake, circulating vitamin C and risk of stroke: a meta-analysis of prospective studies.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2013Pooled it
- Acute exposure to traffic-related air pollution alters antioxidant status in healthy adults.Environmental research · 2020Trial
148 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo assess the efficacy of vitamin and antioxidant supplements in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.
designMeta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. DATA SOURCES AND STUDY SELECTION: PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, Scopus, CINAHL, and ClinicalTrials.gov searched in June and November 2012. Two authors independently reviewed and selected eligible randomised controlled trials, based on predetermined selection criteria.
resultsOut of 2240 articles retrieved from databases and relevant bibliographies, 50 randomised controlled trials with 294,478 participants (156,663 in intervention groups and 137,815 in control groups) were included in the final analyses. In a fixed effect meta-analysis of the 50 trials, supplementation with vitamins and antioxidants was not associated with reductions in the risk of major cardiovascular events (relative risk 1.00, 95% confidence interval 0.98 to 1.02; I(2)=42%). Overall, there was no beneficial effect of these supplements in the subgroup meta-analyses by type of prevention, type of vitamins and antioxidants, type of cardiovascular outcomes, study design, methodological quality, duration of treatment, funding source, provider of supplements, type of control, number of participants in each trial, and supplements given singly or in combination with other supplements. Among the subgroup meta-analyses by type of cardiovascular outcomes, vitamin and antioxidant supplementation was associated with a marginally increased risk of angina pectoris, while low dose vitamin B(6) supplementation was associated with a slightly decreased risk of major cardiovascular events. Those beneficial or harmful effects disappeared in subgroup meta-analysis of high quality randomised controlled trials within each category. Also, even though supplementation with vitamin B(6) was associated with a decreased risk of cardiovascular death in high quality trials, and vitamin E supplementation with a decreased risk of myocardial infarction, those beneficial effects were seen only in randomised controlled trials in which the supplements were supplied by the pharmaceutical industry.
conclusionThere is no evidence to support the use of vitamin and antioxidant supplements for prevention of cardiovascular diseases.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.