But many leading experts disagree.
Antioxidant authority Jeffrey Blumberg of Tufts University says the alarming studies apply only to elderly people with cardiovascular disease, diabetes or Alzheimer's disease, not younger, healthy people. Even so, the studies are so statistically flawed as to be meaningless, he says. He sees no reason to stop taking vitamin E, but he thinks it is more likely to help prevent rather than treat heart disease. Several studies conclude that E is not a magic bullet against cardiovascular disease.
Nor is vitamin E apt to hasten your death, says Oregon State University's Maret Traber, a world authority on vitamin E. She notes the statistics actually suggest an increased risk only from a high daily dose of 2,000 IU; she finds no compelling evidence that up to 800 IU daily boosts your risk of dying from anything. Should people take vitamin E? "Absolutely, yes," Traber says.
Indeed, new results from a major National Institutes of Health study find vitamin E safe. In the study, 40,000 healthy women took either 600 IU of vitamin E or a placebo every other day for 10 years. The vitamin did not cause harm, nor did it reduce risk of heart attack and stroke. But it did cut odds of heart-related death, including cardiac arrest, by an "unexpected" 24%, Harvard's Julie Buring reports. Vitamin E has other benefits.
- In new studies, longtime use cut prostate cancer risk 50% and risk of ALS (Lou Gehrig's) deaths 62%.
- In older studies, E helped fight cataracts, Alzheimer's, macular degeneration, infections, colds, flu and low immunity.
Bottom line: Vitamin E may benefit some people; 400 to 800 IU daily is unlikely to harm anyone. The Institute of Medicine puts the safety limit at 1,500 IU daily.
Copyright 2004 Jean Carper. Printed first in USA Weekend. All rights reserved.
For more information from Jean Carper, go to www.jeancarper.com
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