Vitamin E supplements don't improve cardiac risk - risk of suffering cardiovascular diseases - Brief Article

Running & FitNews, June, 2000

Many health conscious individuals and the doctors who care for them have wanted to believe in the benefits of vitamin E for heart health, and several inconclusive studies have fueled those beliefs. Unfortunately, a very good, large study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that vitamin E supplements do not prevent heart attacks and strokes in patients at high risk for cardiovascular disease.

In this study, nearly 10,000 men and women with high cardiovascular risk were divided randomly into groups. The groups were given either 400 International Units of vitamin E a day or a placebo; or an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or a placebo. After four and half years, 772 of the 4,761 patients taking vitamin E had suffered cardiovascular events (stroke or heart attack) versus 739 of the 4,780 patients taking placebo. If those numbers make your eyes blur, it means there was essentially no difference between the vitamin E group and the placebo group. By the way, the ACE inhibitor group did significantly better than the placebo group.

Of course, to the vitamin E believers, this is a disappointment. But remember, this study found vitamin E supplements didn't reduce the risk of heart disease in people with a high risk of heart disease. As is nearly always the case, your best bet to accrue the widest array of health benefits is to head for the source. While Americans spend about $1.7 billion a year on vitamin and mineral supplements, whole food sources of those substances continually win the research wars.

Save your money. Eat your vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, vegetable oils, and whole grains. Along with diet, your best line of defense is to exercise, and to keep your blood pressure and cholesterol down. Vitamin E is natural, nontoxic, and has other benefits besides disputed heart health, including prevention of prostate cancer and possible immune system benefits.

(New England Journal of Medicine, 2000, Vol. 342, No. 3, pp. 154-160; Archives of Internal Medicine, 1999, Vol. 159, No. 12, pp. 1313-1320)