Vitamin E may safeguard bypass hearts.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. may safeguard bypass hearts A purified form of vitamin E appears to protect the heart from toxic "free radicals" that can damage cardiac tissue during coronary artery bypass surgery Coronary artery bypass surgery, also coronary artery bypass graft surgery, and colloquially heart bypass or bypass surgery is a surgical procedure performed to relieve angina and reduce the risk of death from coronary artery disease. . Vitamin E, abundant in such foods as wheat germ, leafy green vegetables, sunflower seeds, almonds and peanuts, functions in the body as an antioxidant antioxidant, substance that prevents or slows the breakdown of another substance by oxygen. Synthetic and natural antioxidants are used to slow the deterioration of gasoline and rubber, and such antioxidants as vitamin C (ascorbic acid), butylated hydroxytoluene , preventing formation of dangerous substances called free radicals. During the final phase of bypass surgery Bypass surgery A surgical procedure that grafts blood vessels onto arteries to reroute the blood flow around blockages in the arteries (arteriosclerosis). -- an operation to improve blood flow to the heart -- free radicals form as surgeons briefly flood the heart with richly oxygenated blood. Until now, cardiac surgeons have had no way of shielding the heart from these substances. Terrence Yau of the University of Toronto Research at the University of Toronto has been responsible for the world's first electronic heart pacemaker, artificial larynx, single-lung transplant, nerve transplant, artificial pancreas, chemical laser, G-suit, the first practical electron microscope, the first cloning of T-cells, reports that presurgical supplementation with vitamin E improves the heart's ability to pump during the especially risky five-hour postoperative period. He and his colleagues base their conclusion on a study of 14 people who took 300 milligrams of highly purified vitamin E every day for two weeks prior to their bypass operations, and another 14 bypass patients who received placebo pills. While the results seem promising, Yau stresses the preliminary nature of the small-scale study and calls for further research to solidify vitamin E's role as the heart's bodyguard during bypass surgery. |
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