Do you want to provide your clients with every possible tool for preventing cardiovascular disease? You might point them to research showing that a multivitamin may help.

A study published in The American Journal of Medicine in December 2003 (vol. 115, pp. 702-7) found that C-reactive protein (CRP), an independent risk fac- tor for cardiovascular disease, can be reduced by simply taking a multivitamin. The study, led by Timothy Church, MD, MPH, PhD, of The Cooper Institute, showed that a group taking a 24-ingrediem multivitamin reduced its CRP level by 32 percent.

CRP has been identified as an important predictor of future heart disease, but to date, proven therapeutic means to reduce CRP have been limited. While researchers 'acknowledge that these research results need confirmation by other studies, they are excited about the findings, especially since multivitamins are low cost, generally safe and widely acceptable.