The Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging (Feb 2024)
Effects of vitamin D, omega-3 and a simple strength exercise programme in cardiovascular disease prevention: The DO-HEALTH randomized controlled trial
Abstract
Background: The effects of non-pharmaceutical interventions in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in older adults remains unclear. Therefore, the aim was to investigate the effect of 2000 IU/day of vitamin D3, omega-3 fatty acids (1 g/day), and a simple home strength exercise program (SHEP) (3×/week) on lipid and CVD biomarkers plasma changes over 3 years, incident hypertension and major cardiovascular events (MACE). Methods: The risk of MACE (coronary heart event or intervention, heart failure, stroke) was an exploratory endpoint of DO-HEALTH, incident hypertension and change in biomarkers were secondary endpoints. DO-HEALTH is a completed multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled, 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design trial enrolling 2157 Europeans aged ≥70 years. Results: Participants’ median age was 74 [72, 77] years, 61.7% were women, 82.5% were at least moderately physically active, and 40.7% had 25(OH)D < 20 ng/mL at baseline.Compared to their controls, omega-3 increased HDL-cholesterol (difference in change over 3 years: 0.08 mmol/L, 95% CI 0.05–0.10), decreased triglycerides (−0.08 mmol/L, (95%CI −0.12 to −0.03), but increased total– (0.15 mmol/L, 95%CI 0.09; 0.2), LDL– (0.11 mmol/L, 0.06; 0.16), and non-HDL-cholesterol (0.07 mmol/L, 95%CI 0.02; 0.12). However, neither omega-3 (adjustedHR 1.00, 95%CI 0.64–1.56), nor vitamin D3 (aHR 1.37, 95%CI 0.88–2.14), nor SHEP (aHR 1.18, 95%CI 0.76–1.84) reduced risk of MACE or incident hypertension compared to control. Conclusion: Among generally healthy, active, and largely vitamin D replete, older adults, treatment with omega-3, vitamin D3, and/or SHEP had no benefit on MACE prevention. Only omega-3 supplementation changed lipid biomarkers, but with mixed effects. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01745263.
