Is Vitamin E Safe?
A recent study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine states that high doses of vitamin E are dangerous and should be avoided. This study considered doses of vitamin E in excess of 400 IU per day to be high and doses of vitamin E less than 400 IU per day to be low. Is it true that high doses of vitamin E are dangerous? Does the danger out weigh the benefit of vitamin E supplements?
Potential Problems with the study
This was an analysis of several studies involving the use of vitamin E for various diseases. It did not include some observational studies which have shown a correlation between vitamin E use and a reduced risk of coronary disease. Some potential problems that could confound the results of this study include the following:
- Vitamin E was often used in combination with pharmaceutical drugs being studied; the effects of these combinations were not discussed in the research.
- The populations being studied mostly consisted of elderly people with chronic diseases. The paper recognizes this as a possible confounder, because elderly, sick people are more likely to be taking high doses of vitamin E. It would not be possible to generalize the findings to a young and healthy population.
- The study looked at different types of research studies that used different protocols and procedures such as different doses of vitamin E taken for different lengths of time.
- The original studies didn't necessarily differentiate between natural and synthetic vitamin E.
- Some of the results of the original studies have been questioned.
Dr. Julien Whittaker Comments
“The benefits of vitamin E supplementation are well documented. I emphatically believe that not only is the use of vitamin E safe, but highly therapeutic. Thousands of studies support vitamin E's role in cardiovascular health, immune function, and a number of other conditions.
The Institute of Medicine and the federal government agree that vitamin E is safe at levels as high as 1600 IU per day for natural vitamin E (the form I recommend you use) or 1000 IU of synthetic vitamin E, the form most likely used in this study. According to the Council for Responsible Nutrition,
"This meta-analysis provides no convincing evidence to the contrary.”
Julian Whitaker, M.D.
The Benefits of Vitamin E
This study needs to be placed in context. Vitamin E has been studied for many years and there are literally thousands of citations in the scientific literature. There is solid evidence showing the benefits of vitamin E, including double-blind clinical trials, that report 400 to 800 IU of natural vitamin E can reduce heart attacks.
Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin and a powerful antioxidant that has been touted for it’s numerous potential health benefits. Vitamin E can help you stay healthy and fight some of the most common and deadly diseases. Research has shown that vitamin E may help prevent or mitigate the effects of chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes.
Reduces the Risk of Heart Disease
by 30-40%
A number of studies have associated lower rates of heart disease with higher vitamin E intake. The largest study to date on vitamin E and heart disease was conducted by researchers at Harvard University. The study looked at approximately 90,000 nurses and their intake of vitamin E. The results suggested that the incidence of heart disease was 30-40 percent lower among nurses with the highest intake of vitamin E from diet and supplements. Very similar results were found in approximately 40,000 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up study. The men who took vitamin E supplements reduced their risk of heart disease by 37 percent.
Lowers Risk for all Mortality by 27%
An extensive study of approximately 11,000 seniors done at the National Institute of Aging found that elderly people who supplemented with Vitamin E had a 27 percent lower risk of all-cause mortality, a 41 percent reduction in heart disease, and a 22 percent reduction in death from cancer. Vitamin E may also protect against the development of some cancers. Some evidence associates higher intake of vitamin E with a decreased incidence of cancer.
Reduces the Risk for Colon Cancer by 66%
The Iowa Women’s Health Study has demonstrated a very strong protective effect for vitamin E. This was a large scale 4-year study of 35,000 women between 55 and 66 years of age who had no previous history of cancer. The results showed convincing information that that a high intake of vitamin E was associated with a reduced risk of colon cancer. Risk of colon cancer was reduced by 66 percent for women taking the highest amount of vitamin E (up to 200 IU).
Reduces Risk of Bladder Cancer by 40%
In almost all of the cases, the women with a high intake of vitamin E were taking supplements. The American Cancer Society recently released the results of a long-term study that evaluated the effect of vitamin E and C supplements on bladder cancer mortality. The study followed 1,000,000 adults for a 15 year period and found that those who regularly consumed vitamin E supplements for at least 10 years were 40 percent less likely to die from bladder cancer.
Vitamin E Benefits those with Alzheimer’s
Patients with moderately severe Alzheimer’s disease were studied for two years. The patients were given large doses (2,000 IU) of vitamin E or Eldepryl (selegiline hydrochloride) or a placebo for two years. In the patients who received vitamin E, there was a significant delay in disease progression. This study shows that Alzheimer’s patients may live longer and remain in better health if they take high doses of vitamin E.
Vitamin E Benefits those with Diabetes
Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common diseases in the world. Researchers have found that oxidative damage may play a strong role in the damage to tissues caused by diabetes as well as the complications of diabetes. The results show that when these patients took 400 IU’s of vitamin E daily, they reduced their risk of heart attack by 43 percent, and their risk of dying of heart disease by 55 percent. Since cardiovascular disease is the major cause of death in people with diabetes, vitamin E may have a strong positive impact on health outcomes in diabetics.
Vitamin E Lowers Cancer Risk in Smokers
Scientists from the National Cancer Institute, working together with scientists in Finland, studied 30,000 male smokers in Finland and found that those who took a Vitamin E capsule every day for five to eight years had a 30 percent reduction in a number of cases of prostate cancer and a 40 percent reduction in the number of deaths from prostate cancer. And this is really exciting because in this country we expect about 40,000 men to die from prostate cancer this year.
Vitamin E, Multivitamins and Alzheimer’s
Prevent Alzheimer's: Not a single older person who took separate doses of vitamin E (200-800 IU) or vitamin C (500-1000 mg) developed Alzheimer's disease during a four-year double blind study. Subjects who took multivitamin supplements with low doses of vitamin E (typically 30 IU) or vitamin C (60 mg) had no reduction in risk of Alzheimer's. -Chicago's Rush Institute for Healthy Aging.
Boosting the Immune System
with Vitamin E
Boost Immune System: Taking 200 IU of natural vitamin E daily boosted immune functioning in older people. A supplement with only 60 mg vitamin E daily did not improve immune functioning. Obviously, superior immune functioning lessens infections, possibly cancer and heart disease.
Tufts University
Prevent Heart Attacks with Vitamin E
Stop Heart Attacks: A daily dose of 400-800 IU of natural vitamin E cut subsequent heart attacks in men with heart problems by an astonishing 77 percent. Other research shows it takes 400 IU of vitamin E to squelch toxicity (oxidation) of LDL cholesterol.
Cambridge University, England
Prevent Strokes with Vitamin E
Stop Strokes: High doses of B vitamins decreased the amount of plaque in carotid (neck) arteries by 10 percent during a four year study. Blocked carotid arteries can cause strokes. Plaque increased by 50 percent in non-vitamin B takers. Doses: 250 micrograms B12, 25 milligrams B6 and 2500 micrograms folic acid. Note: 800 mcg folic acid is effective for most people, said the researchers.
University of Toronto
Longevity and Vitamin E
Prolong Life: Taking vitamin E and vitamin C (in higher doses than in a multivitamin) cut chances of death from all causes by 42 percent. Vitamin E users were 47 percent less apt to die of heart disease and 59 percent less likely to die of cancer.
National Institute on Aging
"Multivitamin use Reduces Mortality Rates"
This large scale study examined over a million people in the U.S. and compared their mortality rates. Those participants who had multivitamin use with vitamins A, C, and E had significantly reduced risk of heart disease related deaths (mortality).
Watkins ML. Erickson JD. Thun MJ. Mulinare J. Heath CW Jr.
Multivitamin use and mortality in a large prospective study. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Environmental Health, Division of Birth Defects, Child Development, Disability and Health, Birth Defects and Pediatric Genetics Branch, Atlanta, GA 30341-3717, USA. American Journal of Epidemiology. 152(2):149-62, 2000 Jul 15.
"Multivitamin Reduces Stress and Boosts Energy"
This study looked at the effect of a multivitamin over the course of a 6 month period on adults with stress and/or exhaustion. Participants were given pretest measures of psychological and neurological symptoms. After the 6 months ended, participants noted an overall 40% reduction in stress, and almost 25% reduction of negatve conditions, while an almost 20% increase in positive conditions. There was also 30% less infections reported, as well as a 91% decrease in intestinal pain. This suggests that the daily use of an oral multivitamin supplement will help reduce stress and many of the physical symptoms of stress.
Gruenwald J. Graubaum HJ. Harde A. . Effect of a probiotic multivitamin compound on stress and exhaustion.
PhytoPharm Consulting, Berlin, Germany.
Advances in Therapy. 19(3):141-50, 2002 May-Jun.
"Multivitamins Increase Psychological
Well-being"
This research study examined the effect of an oral multivitamin supplement on psychological wellbeing and functioning. Male participants who were free of chronic medical problems were given either a multivitamin or a placebo during the course of 28 days. Participants were not aware of which supplement they were taking, whether it was the placebo or the multivitamin. At the conclusion of the study, those participants who had taken the multivitamin had reported a significant reduction in anxiety and stress levels. They also reported improved concentration and less fatigue. Those patients who were taking the placebo continued to report body pains, such as nausea and headaches, associated with anxiety more often than those taking the multivitamin.
Carroll D. Ring C. Suter M. Willemsen G. The effects of an oral multivitamin combination with calcium, magnesium, and zinc on psychological well-being in healthy young male volunteers: a double-blind placebo-controlled trial.
School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK.
Psychopharmacology. 150(2):220-5, 2000 Jun.
"Multivitamins Increase Mental Performance and Memory"
Our first double-blind, controlled trial with kids showed an impressive 9% increase in IQ(1). Fifteen trials have since confirmed the IQ boosting effects of vitamins. However, it works for adults too. One double-blind trial gave an optimum nutrition multivitamin/mineral or a placebo to over 65 year-olds. Those on the multis had highly significant improvement in their memory, abstract thinking, problem-solving ability and attention span.
R K. Chandra, Effect of vitamin and trace-element supplementation on cognitive function in elderly subjects, Nutrition, vol. 17 (9), 2001, pp. 709-12
"Multivitamins Reduce Aggression and Improve Mood"
Bernard Gesch’s double-blind trial on young offenders in a maximum security prison in Aylesbury, really proved how powerful nutrients are on mood and behaviour. He gave the inmates either a multi-nutrient containing vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids, or a placebo. The results, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, showed a staggering 35% decrease in acts of aggression after only two weeks(3). When the trial was over and the supplements were stopped, there was a 40% increase in offences in the prison. If multivitamins can do that to Britain’s young offenders in two weeks, just think what they could do for the rest of us.
B. Gesch B, 2002, Influence of supplementary vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids on the antisocial cbehaviour of young adult prisoners, Brit J Psychiatry, Vol 181, 2002, pp. 22-28.
"Multivitamins Half the Risk of Infection"
A research study published in the Lancet, took a group of 96 healthy elderly people and gave some a high potency multivitamin and mineral and others a placebo for a year. Those on the supplements had half the number of ‘infection’ days, and had a highly significant increase in immune strength as measured by blood tests on cell counts. R K Chandra, Study of multivitamin/mineral supplementation in elderly, Lancet (1992)
Merck has announced it is pulling the drug Vioxx, off the market because a long-term clinical trial showed that some patients, after taking the drug for 18 months, developed serious cardiovascular problems. The data that ultimately persuaded the company to withdraw the drug indicated 15 cases of heart attack, stroke or blood clots per thousand people each year over three years, compared with 7.5 such events per thousand patients taking a placebo.
Internal memos show disagreement within the F.D.A. over a study by one of its own scientists, Dr. David Graham, who estimated Vioxx had been associated with more than 27,000 heart attacks or deaths linked to cardiac problems.
Studies have shown Vioxx users to have twice the number of heart attacks as those taking Naproxen. These new drugs which block COX-2 enzymes may promote excessive blood clot formation. It appears that COX-2 enzymes counteract some of the effects of COX-1 enzyme which narrows the blood vessels. This narrowing then causes blood to be more likely to clot.
*Science, April 19, 2002.
Controversy had shrouded Vioxx almost since its introduction in 1999. The drug was among the first of the COX-2 inhibitors, which were developed to reduce pain and inflammation without the risk of ulcers and other gastrointestinal side effects posed by aspirin and other over-the-counter medications. Thousands of Americans die every year from internal bleeding caused by the older drugs.
A person taking NSAIDS is seven times more likely to be hospitalized for gastrointestinal adverse effects. The FDA estimates that 200,000 cases gastric bleeding annually and that this leads to 10,000 to 20,000 deaths each year.
Drs. Peter M. Brooks and Richard O. Day, New England Journal of Medicine, 1991; 324(24):1716-25
Studies show that only Vioxx is less damaging to the stomach; Celebrex and Bextra are not. This is one of the dirty little secrets that never got out about Pfizer’s two block-buster drugs; they’re no safer than older non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
Studies also show that neither drug alleviated pain any better than the older medicines. And the drugs cost close to $3 a pill; over-the-counter pain relievers, in contrast, cost pennies a dose.
NSAID use Linked to Risk of Miscarriage
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) are among the world’s most widely used medications. Research conducted by the Kaiser Foundation Research Institute showed that “the use of NSAIDS during pregnancy increased the risk of miscarriage by 80 percent. British Medical Journal, August 16, 2003:327, pp368-71
Pain and Depression
It is well documented that physical pain can lead to feelings of depression, but a new study from the University of Alberta shows the reverse can be true, as well.
Dr. Linda Carroll, a professor in the U of A Department of Public Health Sciences, led the study that shows depression is a risk factor for onset of severe neck and low back pain. The study is published in the journal Pain.
Carroll and her colleagues followed a random sample of nearly 800 adults without neck and low back pain and found that people who suffer from depression are four times as likely to develop intense or disabling neck and low back pain than those who are not depressed.
Poor Health Leads to Anxiety and Depression
Duke University Medical Center researchers have found that patients who report that they have poor health and high levels of pain or disability are more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression than other patients in a primary care environment. Female gender was also an indicator of anxiety and depression, they found. The results were published in the May/June issue of the Journal of the American Board of Family Practice.
Why AntiDepressants Often Fail to Help Those with Chronic Pain
Researchers Matthew J. Bair, M.D., formerly of the Regenstrief Institute, and colleagues uncovered the connection by analyzing the results of a clinical trial of 573 depression patients taking medications like Prozac, Paxil or Zoloft. Their findings are published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine. Although depression improved in most of the patients after three months of drug therapy, 24 percent had persistently high depression scores. The therapy was most likely to fail among those who reported moderate to severe pain at the beginning of their treatment.
"In particular, the odds of a poor depression treatment response were twice as high in patients with moderate pain at baseline and three to four times as high in those with severe pain," Bair says.
Factors like pain may help explain why antidepressants have a mixed record of success, Bair says. Between 50 and 70 percent of depressed patients find only partial relief with their medications.
Prescription antidepressants fail to work for fifty percent of those take them. One way to boost the beneficial effects of antidepressant medications is to take them with SAMe
(S-adenosyl-L-methionine). Research has already shown that SAMe increases both serotonin and norepinephrine levels (brain chemicals) and is a potent antidepressant by itself. Now researchers have shown that combining SAMe with prescription antidepressants reduces the failure rate by 43%.
SAMe has become one of my favorite nutritional supplement. I’m using it more and more in my practice for depression, fatigue, and pain disorders. SAMe elevates endorphin levels. Endorphins are the body’s natural pain killers and are stronger than morphine.
Mass General Hosp, Maurizio Fava
SAMe and Fibromyalgia
Studies involving FMS patients and SAMe have shown dramatic improvements in pain reduction. *One study showed that individuals taking SAMe for a period of 6 weeks had an improvement of 40% in pain reduction and 35% improvement in their depression (Grassetto & Varotto, 1994, pp. 797-806).
Jaccobsen S, Danneskiold –Samose B, Anderson RB. Oral s-adenosyl-L-methionine in primary fibromyalgia. Double-blind clinical evaluation. Scandinavian Journal of Rheum 20(4): 294-302, 1991.
Supplementing with SAMe
Start with 200mg-400mg taken on an empty stomach in the morning. You can go up to a maximum 1200mg day. Don’t take late in the day.
Not everyone will need to take the maximum dose. Take a good optimal daily allowance multivitamin/mineral formula like CFS/Fibro Formula (or something similar) and I also recommend taking adrenal cortex supplements.
Normalizing serotonin level reduces chronic pain
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter, or brain hormone, responsible for regulating sleep, pain, mood, digestion, and mental clarity. Serotonin is created by the amino acid Tryptophan (5HTP) in cooperation with magnesium, and the B vitamins (especially B6, B3 and B12). Amino acids are the essential chemicals that make up proteins–which we must get from our diet).
Serotonin, which turns into melatonin, helps promote deep, restorative sleep. Serotonin also raises a person’s pain threshold (decreases pain), normalizes digestion (eliminates problems associated with irritable bowel syndrome), increases mental function (helps with “Fibro fog”), elevates mood (reduces anxiety and depression), and is known as the “happy hormone.” The higher one’s serotonin level, the higher their pain threshold (less pain).
Boost serotonin with 5HTP
Research
One European study showed that the combination of monoamine oxidase (MAO)-inhibiting drugs (prescription anti-depressants) such as Nardil or Parnate, along with 5HTP, significantly improved FMS symptoms, whereas, other anti-depressant treatments were not effective. The doctors who conducted this study stated that a natural analgesic effect occurred when serotonin levels and norepinephrine receptors were enhanced in the brain. Tests done in Europe show L-Tryptophan to be just as effective in treating depression as the prescription drugs Elavil and Tofranil–which have side-effects. J. Brawly, pg. 130, The Food Allergy Revolution.
