Dietary supplements for the prevention and treatment of coronary artery disease.
OBJECTIVE
With the recent growth in the use of dietary supplements, it is increasingly important for clinicians to be familiar with the evidence for and against their efficacy. We set out to systematically review the dietary supplements available for the prevention and treatment of coronary artery disease.


METHODS
Between May 2004 and May 2006, we searched MEDLINE, the Cochrane Library, and Pro-Quest using the MeSH terms hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, myocardial infarction, dietary supplements, and herb-drug interactions. The MeSH terms of individual supplements identified were then added to the search. Reference lists of pertinent papers were also searched to find appropriate papers for inclusion. We included randomized controlled trials published in English of at least 1 week's duration that studied the efficacy of supplements in the treatment of hypercholesterolemia, or hypertension, or in the prevention of cardiac events. Qualifying papers were identified and assigned a Jadad quality score. In areas of uncertainty, a second investigator independently scored the trial.


RESULTS
Fifteen (15) supplements were identified. Of these, most had little data available and most of the data were of poor quality. The supplements with the most supporting data were policosanol and garlic, both for hyperlipidemia.


CONCLUSIONS
A growing body of literature exists for numerous supplements in the prevention of coronary artery disease, but much of these data are inconclusive. Clinicians should become familiar with the extent and limitations of this literature so that they may counsel their patients better.
Knox
Jeffrey
J
Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
Gaster
Barak
B
D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D019587:Dietary Supplements / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D029001:Herbal Medicine; D006801:Humans; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000517:prevention & control; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000517:prevention & control; D008517:Phytotherapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012107:Research Design
D010936:Plant Extracts