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Vitamin E Supplements Don't Affect Heart Failure Risk: Study

Posted 20 Mar 2012 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, March 20 – Vitamin E supplements don't appear to affect a healthy woman's overall risk of heart failure one way or the other, researchers report. "It neither increases nor decreases the risk," said study author Dr. Claudia Chae, a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. This latest finding, published in the March 20 issue of Circulation: Heart Failure, differs from previous reports of an increased risk of heart failure with the use of the supplement. However, those studies looked at the effect of the supplements in women who had heart disease or diabetes or who had suffered a heart attack. The new study is believed to be the first to look at whether vitamin E supplements might help healthy women avoid heart failure. The new study, Chae said, "adds to a pretty substantial body of data" that does not support the use of supplements for preventing heart disease. Vitamin E ... Read more

Mouse Study Suggests Vitamin E May Weaken Bones

Posted 5 Mar 2012 by Drugs.com

SUNDAY, March 4 – Vitamin E may stimulate cells that result in bone loss, a new study suggests. Researchers led by Shu Takeda of Keio University in Tokyo said their findings could have implications for people who take vitamin E supplements. The researchers explain that maintaining a balance between bone-forming cells (osteoblasts) and bone-degrading cells (osteoclasts) keeps bones strong. Although prior studies had suggested that vitamin E could be beneficial for bone health, the Japanese researchers found the opposite may be true, since the nutrient seems to trigger the production of bone-eroding osteoclasts. A U.S. expert agreed with the hypothesis. "Bone health is a dynamic tissue and issue," said Dr. Robert Graham, an internist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "It is in a constant struggle between osteoblasts ... and osteoclasts." Understanding this cellular battle "is ... Read more

Prostate Cancer: Experts Discourage Vitamins and PSA Test

Posted 12 Oct 2011 by Drugs.com

Oct. 11--For health-conscious men of a certain age, what could be more prudent than taking vitamins and getting screened for prostate cancer? Not doing those things. That's the disillusioning take-home message from back-to-back reports on prostate cancer, the malignancy diagnosed in one out of every six American men. A major national study in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association concludes that selenium and vitamin E supplements do not ward off the disease-and vitamin E alone can somehow promote it. Less than a week ago, an influential federal panel recommended against screening with the prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test. The "vast majority" of men treated for PSA-detected tumors do not prolong their lives, yet that treatment subjects them to "significant harms," including urinary, sexual, and bowel problems, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said in a ... Read more

Extra Vitamin E May Be Associated With Prostate Cancer

Posted 11 Oct 2011 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Oct. 11 – Men taking supplemental vitamin E may be increasing their risk for prostate cancer by up to 17 percent, a new study suggests. But the reason for the association is unclear, the researchers say. "Practically, this means for every 1,000 men who take vitamin E, 76 men get cancer, compared with 65 if they were taking placebo," said lead researcher Dr. Eric A. Klein, chairman of the Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. The new finding comes on the heels of a study released Monday that found that dietary supplements – including multivitamins, which often contain vitamin E – are associated with worse health in older women. Why vitamin E might increase the risk for prostate cancer isn't known, Klein said. "There's a biologic implication here we don't understand. But what it suggests is that vitamins can potentially be harmful," he said. The ... Read more

Vitamin E, Diabetes Drug May Not Ease Obesity-Linked Liver Trouble in Kids

Posted 27 Apr 2011 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, April 26 – Neither vitamin E nor the diabetes medication metformin worked any better than a placebo in treating fatty liver disease in children, according to new research. Fatty liver disease is an increasingly common, yet not well-known, disorder that can lead to very serious complications, such as cirrhosis of the liver. In the United States, as many as 20 percent of adults and 5 percent of children have the disorder, which is strongly tied to obesity, according to the American College of Gastroenterology. It had been hoped that vitamin E or metformin might help kids battle fatty liver disease. But when the researchers compared the two treatments to placebo on their ability to improve the results of a blood test that measures liver health, they found no statistically significant difference. However, when the researchers compared the results of a liver biopsy done at the ... Read more

Study Finds Vitamins E and C Don't Reduce Cataract Risk in Men

Posted 11 Nov 2010 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Nov. 11 – Long-term use of vitamin E and C supplements doesn't reduce the risk of age-related cataracts in men, a new study finds. "An estimated 20.5 million persons 40 and older in the United States show some evidence of age-related cataract," wrote study author William G. Christen, of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues, in a news release. Because oxidative damage is a prominent feature of cataracts, he said, "one focus of nutrition research has been the link between dietary intake of nutrients with antioxidant potential, particularly vitamins E and C, and the risk of cataract." To study the effects of these vitamins, the researchers enrolled 11,545 healthy U.S. male physicians aged 50 and older. They were randomly assigned to take 400 international units (IU) of vitamin E daily or a placebo, or 500 milligrams of vitamin C on ... Read more

Vitamin E May Pose Slight Bleeding-Stroke Risk

Posted 4 Nov 2010 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Nov. 4 – People who take vitamin E supplements may be putting themselves at a slight increased risk for a hemorrhagic stroke, researchers report. Some studies have suggested that taking vitamin E can protect against heart disease, while others have found that, in high doses, it might increase the risk of death. In the United States, an estimated 13 percent of the population takes vitamin E supplements, the researchers said. "Vitamin E supplementation is not as safe as we may like to believe," said lead researcher Dr. Markus Schurks, who's with the division of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. "Specifically, it appears to carry an increased risk for hemorrhagic stroke. While the risk is low translating into one additional hemorrhage per 1,250 persons taking vitamin E, widespread and uncontrolled use of vitamin E should be cautioned against," he ... Read more

Vitamins D, E Might Help Maintain Brain Health

Posted 12 Jul 2010 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, July 12 – Three new studies suggest that vitamins D and E might help keep our minds sharper, aid in warding off dementia, and even offer some protection against Parkinson's disease, although much more research is needed to confirm the findings. In one trial, British researchers tied low levels of vitamin D to higher odds of developing dementia, while a Dutch study found that people with diets rich in vitamin E had a lower risk of developing dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. Finally, a study released by Finnish researchers linked high blood levels of vitamin D to a lower risk of Parkinson's disease. In the first report, published in the July 12 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, a research team led by David J. Llewellyn of the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom found that among 858 older adults, those with low levels of vitamin D were more likely to ... Read more

Vitamins May Not Curb High Blood Pressure in Pregnant Diabetics

Posted 27 Jun 2010 by Drugs.com

SATURDAY, June 26 – Taking vitamin C and E supplements will not lower the risk of the blood pressure disorder known as preeclampsia in pregnant women with type 1 diabetes, a new study finds. Women with diabetes are at high risk for preeclampsia (a sudden increase in the mother's blood pressure after the 20th week of pregnancy), and prior research has suggested that because type 1 diabetes is associated with increased oxidative stress and lower levels of antioxidants in the body, taking antioxidant vitamins might help. The British study included 762 pregnant women with type 1 diabetes. They were randomly assigned to take 1000 milligrams of vitamin C and 400 international units (IU) vitamin E (379 women) or placebo (383 women) daily from between eight and 22 weeks of gestation and delivery. The rate of preeclampsia was 15 percent in the vitamins group and 19 percent in the placebo group. ... Read more

Vitamin E Helps Treat Common Liver Disease

Posted 29 Apr 2010 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, April 28 – A new study has identified vitamin E as a treatment that can provide relief for many of the estimated 10 million Americans who have the most common chronic liver disease. "This clearly shows that vitamin E is effective for treatment of patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis who don't have active diabetes," said study author Dr. Arun J. Sanyal, chairman of the division of gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition at Virginia Commonwealth University. A report on the trial is published in the April 28 online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. A second drug tested in the trial, the diabetes medication pioglitazone (Actos), provided some relief but did not meet the benchmarks set in the study, Sanyal added. The trial did not test the two treatments head-to-head. Instead, each was tested against a placebo, an inactive substance. Those treatments were ... Read more

Vitamins C, E Won't Cut Risk of Pregnancy-Linked Hypertension

Posted 8 Apr 2010 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, April 7 – Mothers-to-be who take vitamin C and E supplements do not reduce their risk of the dangerous high blood pressure condition called preeclampsia, a new study finds. Although other studies have suggested that these antioxidant vitamins could prevent preeclampsia, this trial of more than 10,000 women found there was no sign "that the drugs did anything to prevent the diagnosis of preeclampsia," lead researcher Dr. James M. Roberts, from the departments of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Pittsburgh, said during an afternoon news conference Tuesday. "That was the disappointing news," he added. "On the other hand, there was no evidence of problems associated with it [the vitamins] that might have been suspected from earlier trials, except for the interesting finding" that women who took the vitamins experienced spikes in blood pressure slightly more often ... Read more

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