Can vitamin E prevent cardiovascular events and cancer?
Julian D Widder and David G Harrison*
Correspondence *Emory University School of Medicine, Cardiology Division, Room 319, Woodruff Memorial Research Building, 1639 Pierce Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
Email dharr02@emory.edu
This article has no abstract so we have provided the first paragraph of the full text.
Basic research has indicated that oxidative injury promotes virtually all of the events leading to atherosclerosis and also contributes to hypertension, myocardial infarction and heart failure.1 It seemed logical to assume, on the basis of earlier studies performed in cultured cells and experimental animals, that antioxidant vitamins would reduce cardiovascular disease in humans. Unfortunately, several recent clinical trials, including the original HOPE study, the Gruppo Italiano per lo Studio della Sopravvivenza nell'Infarto Miocardico (GISSI) Prevenzione trial and the recent Heart Protection Study failed to show any benefit for commonly employed antioxidants. We are now presented with the striking and unanticipated results of the HOPE TOO trial: vitamin E actually increased the frequency of heart failure. This is not the first hint that vitamin E might be deleterious. A recent meta-analysis of 19 clinical trials indicated that higher daily doses (>400 IU) of vitamin E increased mortality, while lower doses (<400 IU) were found to have a neutral effect.2
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