What is the Best Supplement for Heart Health?

Heart disease is an epidemic in the United States and is the leading cause of death for both men and women, causing 1 in every 4 deaths. Keeping a healthy heart is, therefore, very important. 

This can be accomplished in many ways, including living a heart-healthy lifestyle, following your doctor’s suggestions, and complementing your lifestyle with heart-healthy supplements. 

We have investigated clinical trials for the best and most recent information about the best supplements for heart health and have identified the top 6 heart-healthy supplements on Amazon.

Living A Heart-Healthy Lifestyle

Keeping heart-healthy involves many different lifestyle strategies, like:

• Eating a healthy diet: Eating high-fiber foods that are low in saturated fats, cholesterol, and trans fats can help prevent high cholesterol, which increases the risk of heart problems like a heart attack. Instead, polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats as found in nuts, olive oil, and avocados are some of the best types of fats for the heart.
• Limiting salt in the diet can help to lower blood pressure, which reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke. Further, controlling sugar intake can help to prevent or manage diabetes, which is a risk factor for heart attacks.
• Limiting alcohol: Men should drink no more than 2 drinks per day, and women no more than one drink per day.
• Staying at a healthy weight: People who are overweight have a higher risk of heart disease. 
• Exercising: Physical activity can help to control blood sugar, weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol.
• Stopping smoking: Smoking increases the risk of heart attack and stroke. Every state has a phone quitline to help counsel you to stop smoking, reachable at 800-QUIT-NOW.
• Taking medications as instructed: If your doctor has recommended a medication for heart health, make sure to take it as directed. You should not stop taking a medication without discussing it with your doctor or pharmacist.

Understanding Cholesterol and Blood Pressure

It is important to understand your cholesterol and blood pressure numbers when you visit your doctor. Cholesterol tests are performed via a blood test that is often called a lipid panel, or lipid profile. This test will show levels of different lipids, or fats in the blood, including:

• Total cholesterol: This measures the sum of all the cholesterol in the blood. A total cholesterol level of 240 mg/dL or above is high.
• High-density lipoprotein, or HDL: Often referred to as “good cholesterol,” an HDL level of at least 60 mg/dL is optimal.
• Low-density lipoprotein, or LDL: Often referred to as “bad cholesterol,” an LDL level of 100 mg/dL or lower is best. If you have a history of heart problems or risk factors for heart disease, your doctor may recommend a lower level like 70 mg/dL or lower.
• Triglycerides: This is a type of fat found in fat cells. A triglyceride level of 150 mg/dL or less is best.

Your doctor will often check your blood pressure at each visit. Depending on your age and medical history, your doctor may have a different blood pressure goal for you. Generally, a normal blood pressure is 120/80 mmHg or less. Keeping your blood pressure controlled lowers your risk for heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.

The Best Supplements for Heart Health

Multiple studies have been conducted to figure out what are the best supplements for heart health. Some studies have shown that certain vitamins have no effect, including multivitamins, vitamins C, D, β-carotene, calcium, and selenium. 

Further, other studies have pointed to possible increased heart risk with some supplements, including antioxidant mixtures and niacin when used with a statin drug. However, some supplements have shown benefit in helping a variety of cardiovascular conditions and risk factors. These include:

• Folic acid: Folic acid may be linked both to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease as well as a lower risk of stroke. Doctors think folic acid may work by decreasing levels of homocysteine, an amino acid that has been linked to heart disease when found at high levels. However, some of the studies showing this were performed in places like China, where there is not routinely folic acid fortification in foods, unlike in the United States. Therefore, it is unclear if folic acid supplementation benefits people who already have a diet fortified in folic acid, and more studies are needed.
• B-vitamins: B-vitamins have been linked to a lower stroke risk. This family of vitamins includes micronutrients like Vitamin B6, or pyridoxine, and Vitamin B12, or cobalamin. This family also includes folic acid, which itself has been linked to a lower stroke risk.
• Coenzyme Q-10: This substance is naturally produced by the human body and is necessary for proper function of the mitochondria, which are the powerhouse of cells in the body. However, coenzyme Q-10 levels decline as people age, including both coenzyme Q-10’s ubiquinone form and its active antioxidant form ubiquinol. Supplements may help to improve heart health. For example, people who have been diagnosed with congestive heart failure often have low levels of coenzyme Q-10, and may live longer when taking the supplement. Coenzyme Q-10 is often recommended to ease muscle discomfort in people who take statin drugs to lower cholesterol. Further, coenzyme Q-10 supplements can increase good cholesterol levels even in people taking statins, and can lower inflammatory markers which are risk factors for heart disease. In addition, coenzyme Q-10 may help to lower blood pressure, thereby protecting the heart. Coenzyme Q-10 was even shown to protect against repeat heart attacks in one study.
• Omega-3 fatty acids: Omega-3 fatty acids, commonly sold as fish oils, have an increasing amount of data supporting their use in heart health. Two of the most common types of omega-3 fatty acids used in supplements are DHA, or docosahexaenoic acid, and EPA, or eicosapentaenoic acid. Three recent clinical trials have made doctors take note of omega-3s in recent years. In the VITAL trial, 840 mg of omega-3s a day reduced the risk of heart attacks and other coronary events. In the ASCEND trial, 840 mg of omega-3s reduced heart-related deaths. Lastly, in the REDUCE-IT trial, 4 grams a day of omega-3s reduced cardiovascular events even in people who were taking statins. Doctors think that omega-3s work by lowering triglycerides, a type of fat the body stores in fat cells. Omega-3s may also work in other ways to promote heart health, and research is ongoing.
• Red yeast rice: Red yeast rice is a traditional ingredient in Chinese food. It is produced by culturing rice with strains of the yeast Monascus purpureus. Many red yeast rice products contain a chemical called monacolin K which is chemically the same as the cholesterol-lowering statin drug lovastatin, also known under its brand name Mevacor. As a result, products with a high amount of monacolin K have been shown to reduce bad cholesterol levels in clinical studies. Like statin drugs, monacolin K works by preventing the body from making cholesterol. It is difficult to tell how much monacolin K is contained in any given product. For this reason, red yeast rice should not be taken alongside some prescription cholesterol-lowering medications including statins and fibrates. If you are taking a cholesterol-lowering medication and considering red yeast rice, it is important to talk to your doctor or pharmacist to make sure there are no drug interactions. It should also be avoided in pregnancy. Red yeast rice is generally safe, although some cultures may contain the impurity citrinin which can cause kidney damage. Because the active ingredient is chemically identical to a statin, red yeast rice can lead to some of the same side effects as statins such as muscle pain.

The Top 6 Best Heart Health Supplements

We have searched the internet for the best healthy heart supplements and examined the clinical data and ingredients of some of the best-selling supplements for liver health on Amazon. The name of each supplement is linked to the product on Amazon. We have also included a description of why the supplement was one of our top-ranked choices.