If You Take Calcium Channel Blockers for Your Heart, B-Vitamins Might Save Your Life

An important new study shows why you may want to consider taking folic acid, B6 and B12 if you are on calcium channel blockers for cardiovascular disease.  The drugs may not save you from heart disease, but the B-vitamins might save you from the drugs.

Angina pectoris occurs when the heart muscle is not getting enough blood, causing pressure, fullness, squeezing or pain in the center of the chest. Calcium channel blockers are commonly prescribed to prevent angina from occurring, to relieve symptoms or control blood pressure. The problem is, not only have most studies shown no survival benefit for calcium channel blockers, some have shown that they actually increase the risk of death. Calcium channel blockers may make things dangerously worse by increasing homocysteine. Homocysteine is a nasty byproduct the body produces from the amino acid methionine, and it is an important risk factor for atherosclerosis. They decrease your body’s ability to break down blood clots. The B-vitamins may help with both. Folic acid, B6 and B12 are specialists at reducing homocysteine. Could they eliminate the morality risk of calcium channel blockers?

907 people with stable angina pectoris were prescribed calcium channel blockers. Over an average follow-up period of 10.3 years, there was a “pronounced” and significant increased risk of both death from any cause and death from cardiovascular disease in the group who did not also take B vitamins. But the risk of death virtually disappeared when they took folic acid, B6 and B12.  

Typical doses of B-vitamins used in the study were 0.8mg folic acid, 0.4mg B12 and 40mg of B6.

This important study suggests that, for people with stable angina pectoris, calcium channel blockers increase the risk of all-cause mortality and death from cardiovascular disease. However, adding the B-vitamins folic acid, B12 and B6 significantly reduces the risk.

Am J Clin Nutr. 2023 Jul;118(1):77–84.