Putting the E in Longevity

[Guest guest]

" HSI - Jenny Thompson " <HSIResearch

HSI e-Alert - Putting the E in Longevity

Mon, 25 Jul 2005 07:59:00 -0400

HSI e-Alert - Putting the E in Longevity

 

 

 

 

Health Sciences Institute e-Alert

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July 25, 2005

 

 

Dear Reader,

 

Any woman concerned about heart health would do herself a favor to pay

close attention to vitamin E studies. To paraphrase an old saw: " The

benefits are in the details. "

 

Over the past few years we've seen quite a bit of research concerning

vitamin E. Some studies have been valuable while others, frankly, have

been completely useless. But every now and then we get a well-designed

study that provides important insights that researchers will almost

certainly put to use for future studies.

 

A new trial from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) of Harvard Medical

School falls into that latter category. And this is one that women -

especially older women - should pay particular attention to.

 

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Conclusion: inexplicable

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In a recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association,

the BWH team states this objective: " To test whether vitamin E

supplementation decreases risks of cardiovascular disease and cancer

among healthy women. "

 

The key word there is " healthy, " because we've seen vitamin E

apparently fail to provide benefits in trails where patients were in

poor health while fighting cancer or heart disease. Of course, those

trials can't be held up as an indication of what benefits the vitamin

may provide for the average person who simply wants to maintain good

health. In fact, the BWH study acknowledges that research has already

shown that healthy people who have " high intakes of vitamin E though

diet or supplements, have decreased risks of cardiovascular disease

and cancer. "

 

That's a pretty good place to start.

 

For this trial, researchers enlisted almost 40,000 healthy women from

the Women's Health Study. At the outset, all of the women were at

least 45 years of age. They were randomly divided into three groups

and assigned to take either a high dose (600 IU) of vitamin E every

other day, or a placebo and low dose aspirin every other day, or a

placebo alone.

 

After following the medical records of each subject for an average of

ten years, researchers found that aspirin intake was not associated

with a lower risk of heart attack, stroke or cancer, although there

was a lowered risk of lung cancer death in this group - an unexpected

link that may be a statistical fluke.

 

Vitamin E didn't lower risk of heart attack, stroke or cancer, but

subjects in the vitamin E group had a 24 percent lower risk of dying

from heart disease. At first glance, vitamin E intake would appear to

offer a relatively slim benefit, given that this was the longest

vitamin E trial ever conducted and participants numbered in the

thousands. But when the results are broken down into sub-groups, two

impressive results stand out:

 

* The risk of cardiovascular death was cut in HALF in women over

the age of 65 (the age group most affected by heart disease)

* Heart attack risk was reduced by nearly 35 percent in this group

 

In their conclusions the authors write: " These data do not support

recommending vitamin E supplementation for cardiovascular

disease...among healthy women. "

 

But does that seem logical to you? It doesn't sound right at all to

Maret Traber, Ph.D., of the Linus Pauling Institute. Dr. Traber told

WebMD Medical News: " I find that conclusion inexplicable. " Given that

vitamin E is well tolerated by nearly everyone, I agree wholeheartedly

with Dr. Traber.

 

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Form & function

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" ANY time you see a placebo-controlled study about vitamin E, this

question MUST be answered: What form of the vitamin was used? "

 

That quote is from the e-Alert " Form Rides With Function " (4/20/05),

in which I told you about a study that found very large doses of

vitamin E to have no effect on cognitive function. But the report of

that study made the conclusion moot because there was no mention of

what vitamin E form was used.

 

The BWH team, however, was on the right track: They used natural

alpha-tocopherol, also known as d-alpha tocopherol. And while that's

an excellent choice, an even better choice would have been a mix of

tocopherols: alpha, beta, gamma and delta.

 

And it's a shame that a dose of selenium wasn't added to the mix. As

HSI Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D., has mentioned in past e-Alerts,

selenium enhances the effect of vitamin E. (In addition, this mineral

has excellent antioxidant properties and has been shown to help

increase insulin efficiency.)

 

Dosage? In the e-Alert " C-ing Double " (6/12/03), Dr. Spreen

recommended 400 IU of vitamin E daily (ideally, as d-alpha or mixed

tocopherols, of course), as well as 200 mcg of selenium for general

antioxidant protection. And while it is possible to get too much

selenium, a range of 200-400 mcg daily is considered quite safe.

 

And Dr. Spreen added this caveat: " Those starting out with vitamin E

should start with small amounts and work up. Occasionally the nutrient

can be so stimulating to the heart muscle that there can be a

transient increase in blood pressure, so your health care practitioner

should monitor. "

 

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....and another thing

 

More on the care and feeding of brain neurotransmitters...

 

In the e-Alert " Fat in the Hat " (7/14/05) I told you about dietary

factors that may help reduce the risk of developing Parkinson's

disease (PD). Now we can add vitamin E to that list.

 

In a study published last month in The Lancet Neurology, researchers

at McGill University in Montreal conducted a meta-analysis on eight

studies that examined the effects of dietary beta carotene and

vitamins C and E on PD risk.

 

The results indicate that vitamin C and beta carotene probably offer

no protection against PD. But moderate-to-high intake of vitamin E was

associated with a lowered PD risk.

 

The authors of the study write: " These results require confirmation in

randomized controlled trials. "

 

Hmm. Seems like if the McGill team just popped over to Boston and

dropped in on the BWH team to borrow some data...

 

To Your Good Health,

 

Jenny Thompson

 

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Sources:

 

" Vitamin E in the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease and

Cancer " Journal of the American Medical Association " Vol. 294, No. 1,

7/6/05, jama.ama-assn.org

" Largest Vitamin E Trial Shows Reduced Risk of Cardiovascular Death in

Women " Dominique Patton, NutraIngrendients-USA.com, 7/6/05,

nutraingredients-usa.com

" Healthy Women Don't Need Aspirin, Vitamin E " Daniel DeNoon, WebMD

Medical News, 7/5/05, my.webmd.com

" Intake of Vitamin E, Vitamin C, and Carotenoids and the Risk of

Parkinson's Disease: A Meta-Analysis " The Lancet Neurology, Vol. 4,

No. 6, June 2005, sciencedirect.com

 

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