Last week there were two absolutely contradicting reports on vitamin E. I will report on each separately and summarize my thoughts in the comment section at the end.

A JAMA study showed that supplementing the diets of healthy people with vitamin E had no effect on the rate of "oxidative damage" in their bodies.

Oxidative damage is caused by the activity of "free radicals'' -- compounds released during normal cell processes. Experts have linked oxidative stress to a number of major illnesses, including cancer and heart disease.

Antioxidants such as vitamins C and E are thought to reduce levels of free radical activity.

The investigators saw an increase in circulating vitamin E levels after 8 weeks in people taking the supplements compared with those taking the placebo. However, the level of oxidative damage, measured via chemicals released in the urine, remained nearly unchanged regardless of the varying doses of vitamin E taken.

The study is one of the first to look at the effect of vitamin E on oxidation in the body. Previous studies relied more on test tube-like measurements. This study is good because it measures oxidative damage actually occurring within the living body.

The information provided in this study along with the results of other lager studies add up and say to me that vitamin E does not result in favorable outcomes for reducing death rates, or rates of heart disease or stroke. Vitamin E is not really protecting against oxidative harm to fats as many researchers had thought it would.

Journal of the American Medical Association March 7, 2001;285:1178

High-Dose Vitamin E May Protect Arteries

Another report showed that taking high doses of vitamin E may help prevent heart attacks and strokes by preventing the progression of hardening of the arteries. Researchers said the effect is limited to doses of more than 300 milligrams a day. These high doses -- sometimes as high as 1,000 milligrams a day -- were associated with a slower progression of atherosclerosis, the disease commonly called hardening of the arteries.

Researchers measured the effect of vitamin E by measuring the build-up of plaque in the carotid arteries of 573 men and women who work for a California utility company. At annual check-ups ultrasound was used to measure the thickness of the arterial walls in the volunteers who were healthy and free of diagnosed cardiovascular disease when the study began in 1994.

The study volunteers were divided into four groups based on the use of vitamin E. The benefit was only seen in the group taking the highest level of the vitamin.

The benefit was limited to vitamin E from supplements, no effect for dietary vitamin E was found.

While vitamin E was beneficial, vitamin C -- another antioxidant -- had no benefit and appeared to promote the progression of disease.

American Heart Association's 41st Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention San Antonio, TX March 8, 2001