A large new study reports that Vitamin E is unlikely to prevent heart disease or cancer but it may lower the risk of heart attacks and stroke in older women.
Professor Maret Traber, the main investigator at the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University and an expert on vitamin E, said: “Vitamin E has clear value in helping to reduce the risk of heart and other serious degenerative diseases. This is especially important for people who smoke, have high blood pressure, or who don’t eat properly, habits which can leave them with inadequate levels of this essential vitamin.”However the study involving almost 40,000 American women confirms that Vitamin E does not prevent heart disease or cancer.
What does the vitamin do then if taken regularly. The study found that those women who were taking high dose natural alpha-tocopherol supplements did have a significantly lower risk of death and also a much lower risk of heart attack and stroke if they were over the age of 65. Hence the vitamin maybe of some value in this age group.
This research is published in the 6 July issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (Vol 294, no1).
From the industry point of view this study will provide a boost as the study does not report any adverse effects from the Vitamin E intake during the 10-year study.
