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  Can Vitamin E Kill You...  

Can Vitamin E Kill You…
Or Is the Media Blowing Hot Air??

by Ron Schmid, N.D.

     In early January of 2005, headlines reading “Vitamin E May Kill You” or similar phrases were broadcast across the world, shocking and scaring people out of taking vitamin E. What is the evidence behind these headlines?

     The information in question comes from research reported at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions, and released on the web site of the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. The researchers concluded that daily Vitamin E doses of 400 international units (IU) or more can increase the risk of death and should be avoided.

This conclusion was based on a meta-analysis of 19 Vitamin E studies that looked at 136,000 patients with heart disease, cancer or Alzheimer’s disease. “It was clear that as the Vitamin E dose increased, so does the all-cause mortality,” stated Johns Hopkins University researcher and associate professor of medicine Edgar R. Miller, MD, PhD.

     But was this broad statement justified? Only one of the 19 studies showed any statistical significance with regards to Vitamin E and mortality – the other 18 showed no increase in mortality. It appears that the data was pooled to arrive at a desired conclusion that is based on a statistical artifact. The conclusion was not based on a true scientific analysis of the 19 studies. Rather, it is based on an artificial statistic that was made to look comprehensive and convincing by referring to the 19 studies.

The one study that did show supposed statistical significance in fact showed only a “relative” 10% increase in mortality. A “relative increase” is a statistical term for a manipulation of data that makes small differences appear much larger. For example, if 10 of 1000 people taking no vitamin E died, and 11 of 1000 taking vitamin E died, that would be a 10 per cent relative increase in mortality in those taking Vitamin E. But the actual increase was only 1 person in 1000 – 0.1 percent. This kind of trick is often performed to make drugs look good and vitamins, herbs and food supplements look bad.

     Furthermore, Miller and the other authors of the meta-analysis did not specify what forms of vitamin E were used in the 19 studies. Many studies use the synthetic form of alpha-tocopherol, which has a distinctly different chemistry and less beneficial effect than the natural form. And such studies typically do not use Vitamin E containing the important beta-, delta- and gamma-tocopherols. These are reasonable explanations why the studies did not show a decrease in mortality in the subjects taking Vitamin E.

     On the other hand, hundreds of studies spanning several decades have shown the benefits of Vitamin E supplements. Examples include the following:

  • Professor Morris Brown, lead researcher of a study of 2,000 patients with heart disease at the University of Cambridge in England, wrote: “Now we can confidently say that Vitamin E protects against heart attacks. I will be recommending that patients with angina and those who are at risk of heart disease should be given supplementary vitamin E at high dose.” Dr. Jan Breslow, president of the American Heart Association at the time, said of the study, “Consuming Vitamin E supplements reduced the disease by 75 per cent.” The quotes are from the British medical journal Lancet (1996;347:781-786).
  • A United Nations study was reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Vol 53, 326S-334S). “Vitamin E deficiency is more closely linked to death from heart disease than such better-known risk factors as high cholesterol and high blood pressure…Researchers in the UN study said they could predict 62 per cent of heart disease deaths by looking at blood levels of Vitamin E.”
  • An article in the Western Journal of Medicine (1997 May; 166:306-312) stated that hospital charges related to coronary heart disease could be reduced by as much as $5.6 billion annually for men and women over 50 if large numbers of Americans consumed at least 100 IU of Vitamin E daily.

     These articles demonstrate why surveys have shown that the vast majority of America’s cardiologists take Vitamin E themselves, although most do not recommend it to their patients for fear of reprisals from their colleagues.

     The poorly conceived and obviously apparently biased Vitamin E meta-analysis described above is a typical example of the use of so-called science to discredit safe and effective natural therapies. The scare headlines we all saw were the media’s all too characteristic response, a disservice to a public that should be wary by now of the influence the drug, medical and food industries hold over the moguls who control the nation’s newspapers, magazines, radio and television. Media giants reap billions of dollars in advertising money from these industries. Sadly, today more than ever, money buys influence and colors what most people perceive as truth.

Dr. Ron’s Ultra-Pure & Alternative Medicine Center of Connecticut
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