FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, March 23, 2005

Vitamin E: Safe, Effective, and Heart-Healthy

Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States, and the evidence supporting vitamin E's efficacy in preventing and reversing heart disease is overwhelming.

Two landmark studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine [1][2] followed a total of 125,000 men and women health care professionals for a total of 839,000 person study-years. It was found that those who supplement with at least 100 IU of vitamin E daily reduced their risk of heart disease by 59 to 66%. The studies were adjusted for life-style differences (smoking, physical activity, dietary fiber intake, aspirin use) in order to determine the heart effect of vitamin E supplementation alone. Because a diet high in foods containing vitamin E as compared to the average diet further showed only a slight heart-protective effect, the authors emphasized the necessity of vitamin E supplementation.

Researchers at Cambridge University [3] in England reported that patients who had been diagnosed with coronary arteriosclerosis could lower their risk of having a heart attack by 77% by supplementing with 400 IU to 800 IU per day of the natural (d-alpha tocopherol) form of vitamin E.

Pioneer vitamin E researchers and clinicians Drs. Wilfrid and Evan Shute treated some 30,000 patients over several decades and found that people in average health received maximum benefit from 800 IU of the d-alpha tocopherol form of vitamin E. Vitamin E has been proven effective in the prevention and treatment of many heart conditions. "The complete or nearly complete prevention of angina attacks is the usual and expected result of treatment with alpha tocopherol" according to Wilfrid Shute, M. D., a cardiologist. Shute prescribed up to 1,600 IU of vitamin E daily and successfully treated patients for acute coronary thrombosis, acute rheumatic fever, chronic rheumatic heart disease, hypertensive heart disease, diabetes mellitus, acute and chronic nephritis, and even burns, plastic surgery and mazoplasia.

How it works

The reason one nutrient can cure so many different illnesses is because a deficiency of one nutrient can cause many different illnesses.

Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant in the body's lipid (fat) phase. It can prevent LDL lipid peroxidation caused by free radical reactions. Its ability to protect cell membranes from oxidation is of crucial importance in preventing and reversing many degenerative diseases.

In addition, vitamin E inhibits blood clotting (platelet aggregation and adhesion) and prevents plaque enlargement and rupture.

Finally, it has anti-inflammatory properties, which may also prove to be very important in the prevention of heart disease.

Among other things, vitamin E supplementation:
* reduces the oxygen requirement of tissues. [4]
* gradually melts fresh clots, and prevents embolism. [5]
* improves collateral circulation. [6]
* prevents scar contraction as wounds heal. [7]
* decreases the insulin requirement in about one-forth of diabetics. [8]
* stimulates muscle power. [9]
* preserves capillary walls. [10]
* reduces C-reactive protein and other markers of inflammation [11]
* Epidemiological evidence also suggests that a daily supplement of vitamin E can reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer and Alzheimer's disease. [12, 13]

If all Americans daily supplemented with a good multivitamin-multimineral, plus extra vitamins C and E, it could save thousands of lives a month.

References
[1] Stampfer MJ, Hennekens CH, Manson JE, Colditz GA, Rosner B, Willett WC. Vitamin E consumption and the risk of coronary disease in women. N Engl J Med. 1993;328:1444-1449.
[2] Rimm EB, Stampfer MJ, Ascherio A, Giovannucci E, Colditz GA, Willett WC. Vitamin E consumption and the risk of coronary heart disease in men. N Engl J Med. 1993;328:1450-1456.
[3] Stephens, Nigel G., et al. Randomised controlled trial of vitamin E in patients with coronary disease: Cambridge Heart Antioxidant Study (CHAOS). The Lancet, Vol. 347, March 23, 1996, p 781-86.
[4] Hove, Hickman, and Harris (1945) Arch. Biochem. 8:395.
[5] Shute, Vogelsang, Skelton and Shute (1948) Surg., Gyn. and Obst. 86:1.
[6] Enria and Fererro (1951) Arch. per Ia Scienze Med. 91:23.
[7] Shute, Vogelsang, Skelton and Shute (1948) Surg., Gyn. and Obst. 86:1.
[8] Butturini (1950) Gior. di Clin. Med. 31:1.
[9] Percival (1951) Summary 3:55.
[10] Ames, Baxter and Griffith (1951) International Review of Vitamin Research 22:401.
[11] Ridker PM, Hennekens CH, Buring JE, et al. C-reactive protein and other markers of inflammation in the prediction of cardiovascular disease in women. New England Journal of Medicine, 2000;342:836-843.
[12] Ni J, Chen M,Zhang Y,Li R,Huang J and Yeh S. Vitamin E succinate inhibits human prostate cancer cell growth via modulating cell cycle regulatory machinery. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2003 Jan 10;300 (2):357-63.
[13] Morris M C,Evans D A,Bienias J L,Tangney C C et al.Dietary intake of antioxidant nutrients and the risk of incident Alzheimer's disease in a biracial community study. JAMA 287(24):3230-3237.

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