Antioxidant Supplements Improve Childrens Heart Health

Antioxidant Supplements Improve Childrens Heart Health

SAN FRANCISCOAntioxidant supplementation may protect children from heart disease, according to a recent study that appeared online Aug. 11 in a Fast Track publication of Circulation (http://circ.ahajournals.org). Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, enrolled 15 hyperlipidemic children and placed them on a cholesterol-lowering dietary regimen. The children were also randomly assigned to either concurrent antioxidant treatment (500 mg/d of vitamin C and 400 IU/d of vitamin E) or placebo. After six months, the children taking antioxidants exhibited restored endothelial function, which might protect them against atherosclerosis and future coronary heart disease.