VITAMIN E: A CURE IN SEARCH OF RECOGNITION

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VITAMIN E: A CURE IN SEARCH OF RECOGNITION

 

by Andrew W. Saul

 

(Reprinted with permission from the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, 2003;

Vol. 18, Numbers 3 and 4, p. 205-212.)

 

" Some doctors claim that vitamin E helps many heart cases, but the official view

is that the substance has not been proved of value in treating heart disease. "

 

This statement could have been taken verbatim from any of a number of recent

news media reports. But in fact, this particular quote is from a 1953 article in

Maclean's Magazine entitled " The Fight Over Vitamin E. " (1)

 

Half a century later, it would seem that little has changed.

 

" (W)e do not support the continued use of vitamin E treatment and discourage the

inclusion of vitamin E in future primary and secondary prevention trials in

patients at high risk of coronary artery disease. " (2)

 

This statement is from a 2003 analysis that looked at studies employing daily

treatment dosages between 50 and 800 IU. Yet since the 1940's, clinicians have

been reporting that vitamin E dosages between 450 and 1,600 IU or more are

required to effectively treat cardiovascular disease. I would enjoy seeing a

meta-analysis of the work of Drs. Wilfrid and Evan Shute, who treated coronary

thrombosis with 450 to 1,600 IU; angina with 450 to 1,600 IU; and

thrombophlebitis with 600 to 1,600 IU of vitamin E daily. (3) The recent Lancet

meta-analysis did not include them. There is nothing capricious about either

study selection or dosage choice. Researchers and analysts know full well that

high dosage will obtain different results than low dosage. Statistical analysis

of meaningless studies will rarely enable a meaningful conclusion.

 

DOUBLE STANDARD

 

Countless comedians have made fun of the incompetent physician who, when called

late at night during a life-threatening disease crisis, says, " take two aspirin

and call me in the morning. " Now it’s no longer funny. Recently, one of the

largest pharmaceutical conglomerates in the world ran prime-time national

television commercials that declared: " Bayer aspirin may actually help stop you

from dying if you take it during a heart attack. " The company also promotes such

use of its product on the Internet. (4) This statement comes forth after a

century of widespread aspirin consumption. Cardiovascular disease remains the

number one killer of men and women and there are over a million heart attacks

annually in the US alone.

 

If you produced a TV ad that said that megadoses of wheat germ oil, or the

vitamin E in it, could save your life by preventing a heart attack, not only

would people disbelieve you, you’d also be subject to arrest for breaking

federal law. Foods and vitamins may not be advertised as treatments for specific

diseases. " All statements of nutritional support for dietary supplements must be

accompanied by a two-part disclaimer on the product label: that the statement

has not been evaluated by FDA and that the product is not intended to " diagnose,

treat, cure or prevent any disease. " " (5)

 

Yet even traditional nutrition textbooks acknowledge the extensive scientific

proof of successful treatment of intermittent claudication with vitamin E. " This

therapy helps reduce the arterial blockage, " says Nutrition and Diet Therapy,

Seventh Edition, a standard dietetics work. (6) Unless there be something

absolutely unique about arterial real estate between the knee and the ankle,

would not vitamin E also help " reduce the blockage " in other arteries? This is

rationale the Shutes used when, 65 years ago, they employed vitamin E to

successfully treat circulatory diseases in thousands of patients, using daily

dosages as high as 3,200 IU. For that achievement, they were praised by their

patients and ostracized from the ranks of orthodox physicians.

 

By 1971, it was increasingly clear that the Shutes had gotten it right.

Intermittent claudication, now regarded as a reliable sign of peripheral

arterial disease, was shown by double-blind study to be diminished 66% with the

use of vitamin E. The dosage administered was 1600 mg/day. (7)

 

A TORRID HISTORY

 

1922 was the year the USSR was formed and " Little Orphan Annie " began. Trumpeter

Al Hirt and future heart transplant pioneer Christiaan Barnard were born.

Alexander Graham Bell died. And vitamin E was discovered by H. M. Evans and K.

S. Bishop. (8)

 

In 1936, Evans' team had isolated alpha tocopherol from wheat germ oil and

vitamin E was beginning to be widely appreciated, and the consequences of

deficiency better known. Health Culture Magazine for January, 1936 said, " The

fertility food factor (is) now called vitamin E. Excepting for the abundance of

that vitamin in whole grains, there could not have been any perpetuation of the

human race. Its absence from the diet makes for irreparable sterility occasioned

by a complete degeneration of the germinal cells of the male generative glands.

(T)he expectant mother requires vitamin E to insure the carriage of her charge

to a complete and natural term. If her diet is deficient in vitamin E . . . the

woman is very apt to abort. . . It is more difficult to insure a liberal vitamin

E supply in the daily average diet than to insure an adequate supply of any

other known vitamin. " (9)

 

And that very same year, 1936, the Shutes were already at work employing

tocopherol from wheat germ oil to relieve angina symptoms. (10)

 

Since the word " tocopherol " is taken from the Greek words for " to carry

offspring " or " to bring forth childbirth, " it is easy enough to see how Evan

Shute and other obstetricians were drawn into the work. As early as 1931,

Vogt-Moller of Denmark successfully treated habitual abortion in human females

with wheat germ oil vitamin E. By 1939 he had treated several hundred women with

a success rate of about 80%. In 1937, both Young in England and the Shutes in

Canada reported success in combating threatened abortion and pregnancy toxemias

as well. A. L. Bacharach's 1940 statistical analysis of published clinical

results " show quite definitely that vitamin E is of value in recurrent

abortions. " (11) And also in 1940, the Shutes were curing atherosclerosis with

vitamin E. By 1946, thrombosis, phlebitis, and claudication.

 

Yet when the MDR's (Minimum Daily Requirements) first came out in 1941, there

was no mention of vitamin E. It was not until 1959 that vitamin E was recognized

by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as necessary for human existence, and

not until 1968 that any government recommendation for vitamin E would be issued.

That year, the Food and Nutrition Board of the US National Research Council

offered its first Recommended Daily Allowance: 30 IU. It has been as low as 15

IU in 1974 . In 2000, it was set at 22 IU (15 mg) for all persons, including

pregnant women. This is somewhat odd in view a 70-year established research

history showing how vital vitamin E is during gestation. It is another curious

fact that today, when the public has been urged to increase its consumption of

unsaturated fats, the official dietary recommendation for vitamin E is

substantially lower than it was 35 years ago. " The requirement for vitamin E is

related to the amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs)

consumed in the diet. The higher the amount of PUFAs, the more vitamin E is

required. " (12)

 

One reason the RDA was lowered is that " dieticians were having difficulty

devising diets of natural foods which had the recommended amount (30 IU) of

vitamin E. " (13) There are about 39 IU of vitamin E in an 8-ounce cup of olive

oil. A full pound of peanuts yields 34 IU. Professor Max K. Horwitt, Ph.D., who

spent 15 years serving on The Food and Nutrition Board's RDA committees, said in

an interview that " The average intake by adults, without supplements, seems to

be about 8 milligrams of alpha-tocopherol per day, or 8 tocopherol equivalents.

This is equivalent to 12 International Units (IU). " (14) So it might be said

that, in the end, the accommodation was not to raise the bridge but rather to

lower the river.

 

Vitamin E is the body's chief fat-soluble antioxidant. It is a powerful one

indeed, when you consider that 22 IU is presumed adequate to protect each one of

the tens of trillions of body cells in a human being. Even though there has been

a veritable explosion in antioxidant research since 1968, the RDA for vitamin E

has been decreased.

 

POSTAL FRAUD

 

" Any claim in the labeling of drugs or of foods offered for special dietary use,

by reason of Vitamin E, that there is need for dietary supplementation with

Vitamin E, will be considered false. " (United States Post Office Department

Docket No. 1/187 (March 15, 1961)

 

On October 26, 1959, the US government charged an organization known as the

Cardiac Society with postal fraud for selling 30 IU vitamin E capsules through

the mail. Specifically, the charge was " the operation of a scheme or device for

obtaining money through the mails by means of false and fraudulent pretenses,

representations or promises . . . that Respondent's product 'E-FEROL 30 I.U.'

(containing vitamin E) is therapeutically effective and beneficial in the

treatment of heart and cardiovascular diseases for any person so afflicted; that

Respondent's said product will prevent heart disease; that " It (vitamin E) is

the key both to the prevention and treatment of all those conditions in which a

lack of blood supply due to thickened or blocked blood vessels or a lack of

oxygen is a part or the whole story of the disease " ; that " Vitamin E seems to be

a natural anti-thrombin in the human blood stream. . . It is the only substance

preventing the clotting of blood which is not dangerous " ;

that the book " Your Heart and Vitamin E " tells you " What Vitamin E is and Does,

How It Treats Heart Disease, Its Success In Circulatory Diseases, Your Foods'

Deficiency in Vitamin E " . . . That " It (the book) explains medical facts in

every-day language concerning the help that is available for sufferers from

diseases of the heart and blood vessels such as Coronary Heart Disease, Angina

Pectoris, Phlebitis, Buerger's Disease, Diabetes, Strokes, etc. " (15)

 

A four-day hearing in Washington, D.C. generated sufficient testimony to fill

" four volumes totaling 856 pages. Seventy-six exhibits were received in

evidence. . . for the consideration of the Hearing Examiner. His Initial

Decision covers forty-two pages. "

 

It is an oddity of history that, at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the

United States of America found both the reason and the resources to prosecute

such a case as this.

 

" The record here shows that the consensus of medical opinion is that

Respondent's claims are false and that this is the universality of medical

opinion on the subject. Numerous tests and experiments have been conducted to

attempt to substantiate the claims made by Respondent that Vitamin E is

efficacious for treatment of a number of conditions but these have failed to

substantiate the claims. It appears perfectly clear from the testimony of the

expert witnesses that Respondent's claims and representations are devoid of

scientific support. . . The Hearing Examiner correctly found that the Respondent

intends to deceive by its false representation and that actual fraud under

established law is proven. . . A fraud order shall issue forthwith forbidding

the delivery of mail and the payment of money orders incident to such scheme, to

the Respondent, its agents and representatives, all in accordance with 39 U.S.C.

259 and 732. " (15)

 

After this, all mail addressed to the Cardiac Society was returned to the

sender, with " Fraudulent " stamped on the envelope.

 

DOSAGE AND UTILITY

 

Vitamin E has many clinically important and seemingly unrelated properties. In

their books (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21) the Shutes discuss a number of them.

 

1) Vitamin E strengthens and regulates heartbeat, like digitalis and similar

drugs, at a dose adjusted between 800 to 3,000 IU daily.

 

2) Vitamin E reduces inflammation and scarring when frequently applied topically

to burns or to sites of lacerations or surgical incisions. Internally, vitamin E

helps to very gradually break down thrombi at a maintained oral dose of between

800 IU and 3,000 IU.

 

3) Vitamin E has an oxygen-sparing effect on the heart, enabling the heart can

do more work on less oxygen. The benefit for recovering heart attack patients is

considerable. 1,200 to 2,000 IU daily relieves angina very well. My father, duly

diagnosed with angina, gradually worked up to 1,600 IU over a period of a few

weeks. He never had an angina symptom again. In this, he had the identical

success that thousands of Shute patients had.

 

4) Vitamin E moderately prolongs prothrombin clotting time, decreases platelet

adhesion, and has a limited " blood thinning " effect. This is the reason behind

the Shutes' using vitamin E (1,000 - 2,000 IU/day) for thrombophlebitis and

related conditions. The pharmaceutical industry and the medical profession are

well aware of vitamin E's anticoagulant property and that " very high doses of

this vitamin may act synergistically with anticoagulant drugs. " (21) However,

this also means that vitamin E can, entirely or in part, substitute for such

drugs but do so more safely. Perhaps this is best summed up by surgeon Edward

William Alton Ochsner, M.D. (1896-1981) who said, " Vitamin E is a potent

inhibitor of thrombin that does not produce a hemorrhagic tendency and therefore

is a safe prophylactic against venous thrombosis. " (23)

 

5) Vitamin E is a modest vasodilator, promotes collateral circulation, and

consequently offers great benefits to diabetes patients. (24) The Shutes used a

dose of about 800 IU or more, tailored to the patient. For this, among other

reasons, Evan Shute, author of over 100 scientific papers, was literally judged

to be a fraud by the United States Post Office Department. The 1961 court

decision said, " Vascular degenerations in a diabetic are not effectively treated

in the use of vitamin E in any dosage. . . vitamin E has been thoroughly studied

and that there is no doubt whatsoever as to its lack of utility. " (15)

 

This statement was premature to say the least. The " thorough study " of vitamin E

was not quite completed by 1961. Thirty-eight years later, a crossover study of

36 patients who had Type I diabetes, and retinal blood flows that were

significantly lower than non-diabetics, showed that those taking 1,800 IU of

vitamin E daily obtained normal retinal blood flow. The patients with the worst

initial readings improved the most. " (V)itamin E may potentially provide

additional risk reduction for the development of retinopathy or nephropathy in

addition to those achievable through intensive insulin therapy alone. Vitamin E

is a low-cost, readily available compound associated with few known side

effects; thus, its use could have a dramatic socioeconomic impact if found to be

efficacious in delaying the onset of diabetic retinopathy and/or nephropathy. "

(25) Vitamin E also works synergistically with insulin to lower high blood

pressure in diabetics. (26)

 

QUANTITY AND QUALITY

 

The most common reason for irreproducibility of successful vitamin E cures is

either a failure to use enough of it, or a failure to use the natural form

(D-alpha, plus mixed natural tocopherols), or both. For example, in an

oft-quoted negative study (27), researchers who gave 300 milligrams of synthetic

vitamin E to patients who had recently had a heart attack saw no beneficial

effect. Such failure is to be expected. You can set up any experiment to fail.

The Shutes would have used only the natural form, and four times as much.

 

Natural vitamin E is always the dextro- (right-handed) form. On the other hand,

" synthetic vitamin E is a mixture of eight isomers in equal proportions

containing only 12.5% of d-alpha tocopherol. One mg of dl-alpha tocopherol has

the lowest Vitamin E equivalence of any of the common vitamin E preparations. "

(28)

 

There may be other differences. " Vitamin E derived from natural sources is

obtained by molecular distillation and, in most cases, subsequent methylation

and esterification of edible vegetable oil products. Synthetic vitamin E is

produced from fossil plant material (coal tar) by condensation of

trimethylhydroquinone with isophytol. " (12)

 

While personal philosophy is the only possible basis for a decision to conduct a

study using only the synthetic form of a vitamin, the use of low dosage is

generally explained away by alleging doubts about safety.

 

SAFETY

 

The most elementary of forensic arguments is, where are the bodies? Poison

control statistics report no deaths from vitamin E. (29) There is a reason for

this. Vitamin E is a safe and remarkably non-toxic substance. Even the 2000

report by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, which

actually recommends against taking supplemental vitamin E, specifically

acknowledges that 1,000 mg (1,500 IU) is a " tolerable upper intake level . . .

that is likely to pose no risk of adverse health effects for almost all

individuals in the general population. " (30) The Shutes observed no evidence of

harm with doses as high as 8,000 IU/day. In fact, " toxicity symptoms have not

been reported even at intakes of 800 IU per kilogram of body weight daily for 5

months " according to the Food and Nutrition Board. (31) This demonstrated safe

level would work out to be around 60,000 IU daily for an average adult, some

2,700 times the RDA!

 

In addition to an awareness of anticoagulation medications, " Dr. Shute advises

starting with small doses for patients who have rheumatic heart disease. He

starts with 90 IU. and very slowly works up the dose. The reason for this is

that if too much is given at the beginning the increased strength of the

heartbeat may create some difficulty. The same applies to heart failure. The

initial dose should be small and gradually increased. If this is done the final

dose can safely reach 800 to 1200 IU. " (31)

 

SAFETY IN THE ELDERLY

 

A Columbia University study reported progression of Alzheimer's disease was

significantly slowed in patients taking high daily doses (2,000 IU) of vitamin E

for two years. (32) The vitamin worked better than the drug selegiline did. The

patients in the Alzheimer's study tolerated their vitamin E doses well. Perhaps

the real story is that 2,000 IU per day for two years is safe for the elderly.

 

SAFETY IN CHILDREN

 

Children using anti-epileptic medication have reduced plasma levels of vitamin

E, a sign of vitamin E deficiency. So doctors at the University of Toronto gave

epileptic children 400 IU of vitamin E per day for several months, along with

their medication. This combined treatment reduced the frequency of seizures in

most of the children by over 60 percent. Half of them " had a 90 to 100 percent

reduction in seizures. " (33) This extraordinary result is also proof of the

safety of 400 IU of vitamin E per day in children (equivalent to at least 800 to

1,200 IU/day for an adult). " There were no adverse side effects, " said the

researchers. It also provides a clear example of pharmaceutical use creating a

vitamin deficiency, and an unassailable justification for supplementation.

 

SAFETY IN INFANTS

 

Overexposure to oxygen has been a major cause of retrolental fibroplasia

(retinopathy of prematurity) and subsequent blindness in premature infants.

Incubator oxygen retina damage is now prevented by giving preemies 100 mg E per

kilogram body weight. That dose is equivalent to an adult dose of about 7,000 IU

for an average-weight adult. " There have been no detrimental side effects " from

such treatment, said the New England Journal of Medicine, Dec. 3, 1981. (34)

Nevertheless, the 1989 (sixth) edition of the textbook Nutrition and Diet

Therapy (6) advised that " healthy persons stand the chance of developing signs

of toxicity with the megadoses that are recommended in these studies. " (p. 225)

That incorrect statement was dropped in the book's next edition. Instead, the

7th edition (1993) said under " Toxicity Effects " that " Vitamin E is the only one

of the fat-soluble vitamins for which no toxic effect in humans is known. Its

use as a supplement has not shown harmful effects. " (p 186)

 

IMMUNE FUNCTION

 

" Worst Pills, Best Pills " is a monthly newsletter published by Public Citizen,

Ralph Nader’s " Health Research Group. " http://www.citizen.org/hrg/ The October,

2002 issue (Vol 8, No 10) contained this statement by editor Sidney M. Wolfe,

M.D.: " You should not take dietary supplements. These products have not been

tested or shown to be effective for any use, and their safety is unknown. The

only exception to this advice is an inexpensive vitamin or mineral preparation. "

(p 80) On page 77, the doctor presents a JAMA study (35) alleging that a mere

200 mg of vitamin E is somehow detrimental to patients over the age of 60 with

respiratory tract infections.

 

But there are other studies that Public Citizen might do well to present to its

readership. Emanuel Cheraskin, M.D., writes: " The effect of daily vitamin E

supplementation (800 IU alpha tocopherol for 30 days) on immune responses of 32

healthy subjects (60+ years old) was examined in a placebo-controlled,

double-blind trial in a metabolic research unit. The data suggest that vitamin E

supplementation improves immune responsiveness in healthy elderly. " (36) In a

second study, " using a double blind protocol, immune response was studied in a

group receiving vitamin E (800 mg per day) versus placebo. The increased

immunocompetence was matched by blood vitamin E levels which jumped from 1.1 to

3.1 mg%. No such change in blood vitamin E occurred in the control group (1.1 to

1.0 mg%). " (37)

 

A recent and perhaps even more important study looked at patients with colon

cancer " who received a daily dose of 750 mg of vitamin E during a period of 2

weeks. Short-term supplementation with high doses of dietary vitamin E leads to

increased CD4:CD8 ratios and to enhanced capacity by their T cells to produce

the T helper 1 cytokines interleukin 2 and IFN-gamma. In 10 of 12 patients, an

increase of 10% or more (average, 22%) in the number of T cells producing

interleukin 2 was seen after 2 weeks of vitamin E supplementation. " The authors

concluded that " dietary vitamin E may be used to improve the immune functions in

patients with advanced cancer. " That improvement was achieved in only two weeks

merits special attention. (38)

 

Note that the doses in these positive studies were nearly four times the dose

used in the negative JAMA study cited by Dr. Wolfe.

 

HYPERTENSION

 

Recent research has indicated that Vitamin E normalizes high blood pressure.

(39, 40, 41) In some hypertensive persons, commencement of very large vitamin E

doses may cause a slight temporary increase in blood pressure, although

maintained supplementation can then be expected to lower it. The solution is to

increase the vitamin gradually, along with the proper monitoring that

hypertensive patients should have anyway. High blood pressure has been called

the " silent killer, " and nearly one-third of adults have it. It is all too

frequently unrecognized and untreated.

 

Nearly half of all deaths are due to cardiovascular diseases, and often the

first symptom is death. Advocating daily supplementation with several hundred

IU's of vitamin E would be good public health policy. Yet vitamin E, for decades

lampooned as a " cure in search of a disease, " remains virtually the " silent

healer " for as much as the public has been advised of its benefits.

 

Back in 1985, Linus Pauling wrote: " The failure of the medical establishment

during the last forty years to recognize the value of Vitamin E in controlling

heart disease is responsible for a tremendous amount of unnecessary suffering

and for many early deaths. The interesting story of the efforts to suppress the

Shute discoveries about Vitamin E illustrates the shocking bias of organized

medicine against nutritional measures for achieving improved health. " (10, vii)

 

Dr. Pauling would most likely have appreciated this comment from a recent

Harvard Health Letter: " A consistent body of research indicates that vitamin E

may protect people against heart disease. . . The data generally indicate that

taking doses ranging from 100 to 800 IU (International Units) per day may lower

the risk of heart disease by 30%-40%. " (42) Over half a century ago, the Shute

brothers and colleagues showed that, with even higher doses than those, and with

an insistence on the use of natural vitamin E, the results are better still.

 

References:

 

1. Hutton, Eric (1953) The fight over vitamin E. Maclean's Magazine, June 15.

 

2. Vivekananthan DP, Penn MS, Sapp SK, Hsu A, Topol, EJ. Use of antioxidant

vitamins for the prevention of cardiovascular disease: meta-analysis of

randomised trials. Lancet 2003; 361: 2017-23.

 

3. Natural alpha tocopherol (vitamin E) in the treatment of cardiovascular and

renal diseases. http://www.doctoryourself.com/shute_protocol.html

 

4. http://www.bayeraspirin.com/news/heart_attack.htm

 

5. Dietary Supplements: An Advertising Guide for Industry, Part 3. Federal Trade

Commission. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/dietsupp.htm#Application

 

6. Williams SR. Nutrition and Diet Therapy, Seventh Edition. St. Louis: Mosby,

1993. (p 186). Sixth edition, 1989. (p 225).

 

7. Williams HTG, Fenna D, MacBeth RA. Alpha Tocopherol in the Treatment of

Intermittent Claudication. Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics 132:#4, 662-666,

April 1971.

 

8. Evans HM and Bishop KS. On the existence of a hitherto unrecognized dietary

factor essential for reproduction. Science 56: 650, 1922.

 

9. Pacini AJ. Why we need vitamin E. Health Culture Magazine, January, 1936.

 

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11. British Medical Journal, i, 890, 1940 (cited in Bicknell & Prescott. The

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min-e

 

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14. HealthWorld Online Interviews with Nutritional Experts: ''Vitamin E and the

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15. United States Post Office Department Docket No. 1/187. March 15, 1961.

http://www.usps.gov/judicial/1961deci/1-187.htm

 

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20. Shute WE. The Vitamin E Book. New Canaan, CT: Keats Publishing, 1978.

 

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23. Letter. New England Journal of Medicine 271, 4; July 23, 1964.

 

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25. Bursell SE, Clermont AC, Aiello LP, Aiello LM, Schlossman DK, Feener EP,

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26. Koo JR, Ni Z, Oviesi F, Vaziri ND. Antioxidant therapy potentiates

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7;354(9177):447-55.

 

28. Hoffer A. Personal communication, June 2003.

 

29. Rosenbloom M. Vitamin toxicity. http://www.eMedicine.com . October 23, 2001.

 

30. Vita-Mania: RDA for C, E Raised; Limits Set

 

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/DailyNews/vitamin000411.html

 

The Associated Press, Washington, April 11, 2000.

 

31. Rosenberg H and Feldzamen AN. The book of vitamin therapy. New York: Berkley

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32. Sano M, Ernesto C, Thomas RG, Klauber MR, Schafer K, Grundman M, Woodbury P,

Growdon J, Cotman CW, Pfeiffer E, Schneider LS, Thal LJ. A controlled trial of

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33. Ogunmekan AO, Hwang PA. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled,

clinical trial of D-alpha-tocopheryl acetate (vitamin E), as add-on therapy, for

epilepsy in children. Epilepsia. 1989 Jan-Feb; 30(1):84-9.

 

34. Hittner HM, Godio LB, Rudolph AJ, Adams JM, Garcia-Prats JA, Friedman Z,

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double-blind clinical study of preterm infants. N Engl J Med. 1981 Dec 3;

305(23):1365-71.

 

35. Graat JM, Schouten EG, Kok FJ. Effect of daily vitamin E and

multivitamin-mineral supplementation on acute respiratory tract infections in

elderly persons: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2002 Aug 14;288(6):

715-21.

 

36. Cheraskin E. Antioxidants in health and disease: the big picture. Journal of

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F.D., Rocklin, R., Blumberg, J.B. Effect of Vitamin E Supplementation on Immune

Responsiveness of Healthy Elderly Subjects. FASEB Journal 3: A1057, 1989.

 

37. Meydani, S.N., Barkiund, M.P., Liu, S., Meydani, M., Miller, R.A., Cannon,

J.G., Morrow, F.D., Rocklin, R., Blumberg, J.B. Vitamin E supplementation

enhances cell-mediated immunity in healthy elderly subjects. American Journal of

Clinical Nutrition 52:#3, 557-563, September 1990.

 

38. Malmberg KJ, Lenkei R, Petersson M, Ohlum T, Ichihara F, Glimelius B, Frodin

JE, Masucci G, Kiessling R. A short-term dietary supplementation of high doses

of vitamin E increases T helper 1 cytokine production in patients with advanced

colorectal cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2002 Jun; 8(6):1772-8.

 

39. Vasdev S, Gill V, Parai S, Longerich L, Gadag V. Dietary vitamin E

supplementation lowers blood pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Mol

Cell Biochem. 2002 Sep; 238(1-2):111-7.

 

40. Vaziri ND, Ni Z, Oveisi F, Liang K, Pandian R. Enhanced nitric oxide

inactivation and protein nitration by reactive oxygen species in renal

insufficiency. Hypertension. 2002 Jan; 39(1):135-41.

 

41. Galley HF, Thornton J, Howdle PD, Walker BE, Webster NR. Combination oral

antioxidant supplementation reduces blood pressure. Clin Sci (Lond). 1997

Apr;92(4):361-5.

 

42. President and Fellows of Harvard College. Antioxidants: what they are and

what they do. Harvard Health Letter. Feb 1999; 24(5)

 

A bibliography of selected books and papers by Wilfrid and Evan Shute is posted

at http://www.doctoryourself.com/biblio_shute.html .

 

Dr. Evan Shute's autiobiography, The Vitamin E Story, was reviewed by Andrew

Saul in the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, Volume 17, Number 3, Third

Quarter, 2002 (p 179-181) and is also posted online at

http://www.doctoryourself.com/estory.htm .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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