Hopes Dashed for Vitamin E.In the best study done to date, vitamin E vitamin E or tocopherol Fat-soluble organic compound found principally in certain plant oils and leaves of green vegetables. Vitamin E acts as an antioxidant in body tissues and may prolong life by slowing oxidative destruction of membranes. supplements failed to cut the risk of heart disease or stroke, say the authors of the Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation (HOPE). Salim Yusuf of Hamilton General Hospital The Hamilton General Hospital is major teaching hospital on the corners of Barton Street East and Wellington Street North in downtown Hamilton, Canada that is affiliated with McMaster University. It is sometimes referred to as "HGH". It was founded in 1848. in Ontario, Canada, gave either a placebo or a daily dose of 400 IU of vitamin E from natural sources to nearly 10,000 men and women aged 55 or older. All were at high risk for a heart attack or stroke because they already had heart disease or diabetes and at least one other risk factor. After an average of four and a half years, the vitamin-E-takers were no less likely than the placebo-takers to have had a heart attack or stroke or to have died of cardiovascular disease. Nor did the two groups differ in the rates of unstable angina, congestive heart failure congestive heart failure, inability of the heart to expel sufficient blood to keep pace with the metabolic demands of the body. In the healthy individual the heart can tolerate large increases of workload for a considerable length of time. , complications of diabetes, amputation amputation (ăm'pyətā`shən), removal of all or part of a limb or other body part. Although amputation has been practiced for centuries, the development of sophisticated techniques for treatment and prevention of infection has greatly ; cancer, or death due to any cause. (The ongoing trial is still looking at whether vitamin E alters long-term cancer rates.) "In a population like the one we studied, it may take longer than five years to detect an effect," says Yusuf. It's also possible that vitamin E only works if people also consume other antioxidants Antioxidants Substances that reduce the damage of the highly reactive free radicals that are the byproducts of the cells. Mentioned in: Aging, Nutritional Supplements antioxidants, n. , he adds. The only upside, says Yusuf: "Vitamin E was well-tolerated, with no significant adverse events," so longer-term trials can continue. New Eng. J. Med. 342:154, 2000. |
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