Actual statistics for the human and economic burden of heart disease in New Zealand is actually hard to find, however, cardiovascular disease is still considered the leading cause of death in New Zealand.
Of the cardiovascular diseases, coronary artery disease (heart attack) is the major cause of death, followed by stroke, which is the greatest cause of disability in older people. For a variety of reasons, the burden of cardiovascular disease in this country is greatest among Māori and Pacific peoples. From the data I could find, it seems that the death toll from coronary heart disease in New Zealand amounts to about 1500 men and 520 women every year1,2.
A new study published in 20093 has found that vitamin B6 may help maintain heart health, especially in women. The 10 year long U.S. study included nearly 33,000 women between the ages of 30 and 55 participating in the Nurse’s Health Study4. They provided blood samples and diet information from food frequency questionnaires every two years between 1989 and 1998. Of the 33,000 patients, 141 had heart attacks. The researchers found vitamin B6 blood levels to be directly related to heart attack risk. Specifically, compared to those with the highest vitamin B6 blood levels (>70 picomoles/milliliter), those with the lowest vitamin B6 blood levels (<27.9 picomoles/milliliter) had a 76% higher risk of heart attack.
The researchers cite the reduced heart attack risk offered by keeping vitamin B6 levels high because of vitamin B6’s role in helping convert homocysteine, a protein associated with increased heart attack risk5, to cysteine. For the researchers, “a lower fasting concentration of [vitamin B6] is significantly associated with an increased risk of heart attack in predominantly postmenopausal women.”
Whilst the implication of homocysteine in increasing and predicting risk of heart disease may be news to you, and your doctor may never have mentioned it before, it is not a new idea. Research over the last 10 years has shown that elevated homocysteine, an amino acid in the blood, is associated with coronary artery disease, often leading to heart attacks and strokes. Many experts believe that testing homocysteine levels is a far better marker for cardiovascular disease risk than cholesterol, yet it is still not common practice for doctors to test for it. Perhaps this is because there is no drug to fix homocysteine levels, it’s a matter of nutritional balance and dietary supplements to bring B vitamin deficiencies back into line.
In a paper published "Circulation" magazine by a team of cardiologists and cell biologists at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation in 1995, Killian Robinson, M.D., a cardiologist at The Cleveland Clinic and principal investigator for the study said "When determining a person's risk of developing coronary artery disease, it's becoming clear that doctors need to do more than monitor a patient's cholesterol levels and blood pressure. Homocysteine and vitamin deficiencies need to be considered as well".6
Previous studies have focused on deficiency of the vitamins folic acid and B12 and their association with homocysteine. But the Cleveland Clinic's study indicates that the link between homocysteine and vitamin B6 is profound.
The study compared 304 patients (201 men and 103 women) being treated for coronary artery disease. The study found that vitamin B6 deficiency is as much a risk factor for coronary artery disease as smoking and high cholesterol and deficiencies of folic acid and B12 which have already been linked to homocysteine.
Most people don't know if they have a B vitamin deficiency, but these and other research show that it is important that people eat a healthy balanced diet, but even those that do need to have their nutritional status and homocysteine levels checked at regular intervals. The next time your doctor suggests a cholesterol level check, ask for a B6, B12, folic acid and homocysteine level check instead – the knowledge it provides could potentially save your life, rather than lead to yet another prescription drug that has significant side effects.
Although these values are considered too low by many experts, the recommended daily intake of vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid are listed below, along with a list of food rich in these B vitamins. However, much more may be needed over many months to actually correct a nutritional deficiency. Remember too, that B vitamins are sensitive to heat and light, so much is lost with cooking and extended storage and B vitamins are used up faster when the body is under physical and emotional stress.
B vitamins are water soluble, as such the body does not build up unhealthy levels of these nutrients, so supplementation is very safe and appropriate for those with low B vitamin levels.
You will see that there is a long list of good dietary sources for folic acid, yet it is known that New Zealanders along with many other populations are still significantly deficient in this nutrient. That, in my opinion, just goes to show that getting enough (all vitamins and minerals, not just B vitamins) from food alone is not as easy as you’d think or as some people tell us it should.
An article by Jacqui Simcock, Naturopath and Herbalist
Vitamin B6
Adult Daily Recommended Dietary Intake (RDI) - 1.3 to 1.7mg daily
Wheat Germ
Wheat Bran
Liver
Fatty fish
Hazel Nuts
Peanuts
Red & Green Peppers (raw)
Vitamin B12
Adult Daily Recommended Dietary Intake (RDI) - 2.4µg daily
Liver
Sardines (canned in oil)
Kidneys
Fatty Fish
Eggs
Folic Acid
Adult Daily Recommended Dietary Intake (RDI) - 400µg daily
Spinach
Turnip greens
Mesculin greens
Dried beans
Green pepper
Cauliflower
Almonds
Cashew nuts
Peanuts
Walnuts
Strawberries
Honeydew melon
Bananas
Pineapple
Papaya
Whole grains
Reference:
- Cardiovascular Disease DHB Toolkit, February 2003.
- A Portrait of Health: Key results of the 2006/07 New Zealand - www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/.../ischaemic-heart-disease-ch3.pdf
- Page JH. Plasma Vitamin B6 and Risk of Myocardial Infarction in Women. Circulation 2009; 120:649-655
- Nurse’s Health Study details posted on www.channing.harvard.edu/nhs/
- Sun Y. Use of serum homocysteine to predict stroke, coronary heart disease and death in ethnic Chinese. 12-year prospective cohort study. Circ J. 2009 Aug;73(8):1423-30. Epub 2009 Jun 11.
- Doctors Guide, http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/5fee.htm
- Ministry of Health Nutrient Reference Values for Australia and New Zealand http://www.nrv.gov.au/nutrients/vitamin%20b6.htm