A Question of Motives?

Why would such a marginal review of the medical literature be reported in the media as such a sensational finding? The media has jumped all over this study and created a tremendous scare. Maybe there is a common thread. The pharmaceutical industry sponsored this study, at least in part, and they have a tremendous influence on the media. When you look at the maneuvering that was done to try to show a negative result, you have to wonder.

Realize that this is a study that hasn't even been released yet. The last time that I recall the media jumping on a pre-released study was with the Fen/Phen crises. Mayo Clinic had concluded in a study in the New England Journal of Medicine that over one-third of the patients who used the Fen/Phen combination for weight loss for over 3 months had heart valve damage. For obvious reasons, this study needed to be reported as soon as possible.

When you compare the present review study to this situation, you can see why I am suspicious. I don't know what the motives were behind this study. However, I personally believe that this is going to be only one of several negative studies that we will be dealing with over the next few years.

Different Perspective

This fat soluble vitamin continues to receive high acclaim as an exceptional antioxidant especially when paired with vitamins C, beta carotene, and selenium. There are actually two natural plant sources of vitamin E. The first is a group called tocopherols and include d-alpha (or RRR-alpha), beta, gamma, and delta. The second group are called the tocotrienols, of which alpha tocotrienol is the most biologically active. Of the two groups of vitamin E, the d-alpha tocopherol is the most biologically active and all other forms are compared to it in terms of their respective activity levels (alpha = 100, beta = 25-50, gamma = 10-35 and alpha tocotrienol = 30). There is also a synthetic vitamin E known as dl-alpha or all-rac-a-tocopherol, but it only has an activity level of 74% of natural or d-alpha tocopherol. Many people won't think that this information is important on the surface, but if you are looking for natural vitamin E or trying to perform a calculation on equivalents, it becomes critical.

New preliminary reports are indicating that exercisers and those exposed to UV light and ozone may have a greater need for vitamin E. In a small test (5 men) conducted by German researchers at the University of Ulm, Germany, it was noted that the subjects experienced very little DNA damage to white blood cells when 800 IU's of vitamin E was taken twice on the day before exercise and one dose a day afterward. This same group experienced significant DNA damage when the same test was repeated without the vitamin E supplementation (Mutation Research, 1995). Lester Packer, Ph.D., University of Berkeley, recently presented some of his recent findings regarding UV light and ozone. In a recent animal study, Packer observed that when skin was exposed to a single dose of UV light (suberythemal), vitamin E levels dropped by 40-48%. Exposure to ozone caused a similar decrease in vitamin E levels.

Putting these Studies in Proper Perspective

The overwhelming majority of the individual studies showed major health benefits for those who took Vitamin E, yet the Miller report ignored them. Consider these findings:

The CHAOS study showed a 77% decrease in the number of non-fatal heart attacks in the vitamin E group when compared to the control group. This is a major statistical improvement.

In the ADCS study, the patients with moderately, severe Alzheimer's dementia who took high dose vitamin E (2,000 IU) were able to stay home 2 to 3 years longer than the control group. In other words, the Alzheimer's dementia in the control group advanced much faster than the patients in the Vitamin E group.

The patients in the Vitamin E study not only showed a decrease in the progression of their Alzheimer's dementia, but also saved a considerable amount of money that would have otherwise been spent on skilled nursing home care.

These findings are collaborated by many, many studies that show that a full and balanced nutritional supplementation program is highly effective in preventing chronic degenerative diseases and helping those who already suffer from them.

- End of Part 3 -

See Part 4 of "Is Vitamin E Really Our Friend."

See You on the Beaches of the World,

Kevin McNabb