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March 21 2001
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Vitamin E--Who Are You Going to Believe?

 

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



Dr. Mercola Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Don't you just love it when the media gives you apparently conflicting information? Isn't that why you come to the newsletter, so you can get it all sorted out?

This one is not all that difficult to wade through. I have some concerns about the JAMA study and will be writing them a letter. JAMA actually accepted my last letter regarding hair analysis and will be publishing it in the March 28, 2001 issue.

The central problem with this JAMA study is that it is unable to document a mechanism for the clear and well established benefits of vitamin E. Even hard core traditional medical cardiologist take vitamin E. I have seen studies putting the percentage from 50-80% of cardiologist taking vitamin E.

Related Articles:

Vitamin E May Reduce Heart Disease in Diabetics

Vitamin E Improves Circulation in Diabetics

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Community Comments ( 3 )
Comment on this Article
  
  
kestee
[ Joined on 10/08 ] [ Posted on November 9, 2008 ]
       
   
 
This user is BELOW novice level and all their comments need to be reviewed with great caution.

A new study says men shouldn't look to Vitamins C and E for help preventing heart disease.

It's one of the largest and longest studies of the supplements taken by millions of Americans.

Vitamin E even appeared to raise the risk of bleeding strokes, a danger seen in at least one earlier study.

Some research suggests vitamin C may aid cancer, though not fight it.

The results were discussed today at an American Heart Association conference. Results also were published online by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

About 12 percent of Americans take the supplements despite growing evidence that these antioxidants do not prevent heart disease and may even be harmful.

Experts say the results are so clear that they would be likely if the study were done in women, minorities, or with different formulations of the vitamins.

Now please, someone email me and explain this to me!!!!  Seriously, please explain this.  

 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
Health Man
[ Joined on 07/08 ]  [ Posted on November 13, 2008]
       
   
Novice User
  Mercola

It's pretty simple really.  The dose of vitamin E needed to offer therapeutic effects BEGINS at about 1,600 IU daily and may go as high as 3,200 IU daily.  The dose for vitamin C begins at about 2,000 mg daily and can go much higher than this. By providing these patients with subtherapeutic doses, the researchers effectively guaranteed their preconceived notion that only "drugs" can help people.  Until someone conducts a study using real doses, such as 2,000 IU of natural full-spectrum vitamin E and 2,000+ mg of vitamin C, it's all just a waste of time and money.

Think of it this way.  We know exercise is good, right?  The trick to obtaining benefits, however, is the quantity of exercise.  If I did a study where people ran up and down a flight of stairs one time daily, and this offered no benefit after 2 years, is it fair to conclude that exercise is not beneficial?  Or, perhaps, would an intelligent person realize that exercise involves more activity that 10 seconds a day?  Would this same person realize that the health benefits of vitamins E and C also come at higher doses?  Apparently not....

  
  
JerryS01
[ Joined on 04/08 ] [ Posted on April 10, 2008 ]
       
   
 
Novice User

One of the earliest pioneers of Vitamin E, Dr. Wilfred Shute, of London, Ontario, Canada, wrote a book

entitled "Vitamin E for Ailing and Healthy Hearts."  After a heart attack he would immediately infuse 1600

units of vitamin E.  Almost invariably he would have his patients sitting up the next day with no added oxygen.  He claimed vitamin E did three things: (1) It strengthened the heart muscle, (2) it dilated the arteries, and (3) it reduced the oxygen requirements of every cell in the body!    He owned race horses.

He showed the winnings of the same horses before and after putting them on vitamin E.  There was a

distinct improvement after starting the vitamin E.  His daughter was an olympic swimmer who helped

popularize the use of "E" among fellow athletes.   I was a professional trumpet player for over 50 years.

The air pressure needed for the high notes made me "see stars".  On 300 or more units of vitamin E

I never had that problem again.   A friend who had had a stroke was having angina pains.  Dr Shute

used 1,000 units of E for similar cases.  So my friend gradually worked up to 1,000 units.  Later

his doctor sat him down and said:  "What are you taking?"  He showed him the list of drugs they had given him.  But the doctor said "No, you have to be taking something else.  Your heart was enlarged, it's gone down!  Your arteries were constricted, they've opened up!  And your blood count is better that the last 150 patients we've had through here!  You've got to be taking something, and I want to know what it is."  When he told him "Vitamin E,"  The amazed doctor quietly said, "You keep taking it."    I've been

taking 800-1200 units of vitamin E for well over forty years, and I plan to continue, as long as I can still

get it.  JS., Iowa.            Get the book!  It also has chapters on how "E" reduces insulin requirements in diabetics, cures gangrene, kidney problems, and is great for eliminating scars in burn victims.  

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