The Truth about Vitamin E and Heart Disease Risk in Women

This week I'm going to share some information from a recent seminar by Dr. Jeffrey Blumberg of Tufts University. But first let me tell you who Dr. Blumberg is. Dr. Blumberg is a Professor in the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, which is part of the JeanMayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging at Tufts. Dr. Blumberg has over 200 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals. He is considered one of the world's top experts on supplementation. And he is on Shaklee's Scientific Advisory Board.

Now back to what I learned at his seminar. Dr. Blumberg's specialty is conducting and analyzing clinical studies, and his perspective on some recent clinical studies is a bit different from what you may have heard from media reports. Over the next several weeks I will be talking about how he believes that the media has seriously misinterpreted several recent studies.

You might call this topic "The Rest Of The Story" because you (and your doctor) definitely did not hear this part of the story in the news. Let's start with vitamin E and the risk ofcardiovascular disease in women. In 2005 the results of the Women's Health Study were published (Lee et al., JAMA, 294:56-65, 2005). This was a major study in which 39,876 women were given either 600 IU of vitamin E every other day or a placebo and followed for 10 years.

The headlines said "Vitamin E Supplements Do Not Reduce Risk Of Cardiovascular Death, Heart Attack And Stroke In Women" That was true if you looked at the total population of women in the study. But Dr. Blumberg pointed out that when you looked at women who were 65 or older in that study vitamin E supplementation caused a:- 24% decrease in cardiovascular deaths- 26% decrease in major cardiovascular events- 21% decrease in venous thromboembolism (blood clots forming in the veins).- and all of these decreases were statistically significant.

That's important because the risk of heart disease in pre-menopausal women is extremely low. It's the over 65 group who have a high risk of heart disease. A subsequent study called the "Women's Antioxidant Cardiovascular Study" looked at the effect of 600 IU of vitamin E every other day on cardiovascular events in 8171 women health professionals (Cook et al, Archives of Internal Medicine, 167:1610-1618, 2007). Once again the headlines said that vitamin E supplementation had no effect on cardiovascular events. But, when the authors looked at those women who already had cardiovascular disease at the beginning of the study (and were, therefore, at high risk of suffering a cardiovascular event during the study) vitamin E supplementation caused a 23% decreased risk of heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular death.

So what the headlines from both studies should have said was: "Vitamin E reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular deaths in those women at high risk of heart attacks". But, of course, they didn't. Perhaps that doesn't sell enough papers.

To your health!Dr. Stephen Chaney, PhDShaklee Master Coordinator