Copyright © 1995 by Jack Challem
Reproduced from The Nutrition Reporter™ newsletter.
All rights reserved.

The 50-year-old controversy surrounding the role of vitamin E in preventing coronary heart disease came to an end of sorts two years ago. That's when Harvard University researchers reported that supple-mental doses of the vitamin reduced the risk of heart disease by as much as 54 percent.

Many researchers have focused on why vitamin E protects the heart-and how the vitamin interacts with cholesterol. Instead of high levels of cholesterol or the low-density lipo-protein (LDL) form of cholesterol causing heart disease, researchers increasingly believe LDL becomes a problem only when it oxidizes, or turns rancid.

In numerous studies, Ishwarlal Jialal, MD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, has documented that vitamin E (as well as vitamin C) prevents LDL from oxidation. But how much vitamin E is enough?

To determine the minimum effective dose, Jialal gave a group of human volunteers vitamin E in doses of 60, 200, 400, 800, and 1,200 IU per day. After eight weeks, he could find no significant effects from the 60 or 200 IU doses. According to Jialal's report in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology (Feb 1995;15:190-8), a minimum of 400 IU of vitamin E daily was needed to prevent the oxidation of LDL.

It comes as no surprise, then, that a team of Italian researchers has recommended large doses of vitamin E-in this case, 900 IU per day-in the treatment of elderly patients with heart disease.

Giuseppe Paolisso, MD, and his colleagues at the University of Naples monitored the effects of vitamin E on blood levels of glucose, insulin and triglyceride and the ratio between LDL and high-density lipoprotein (HDL, the "good" cholesterol) among 30 men and women in their 70s.

After four months, they analyzed "fasting" blood samples from the subjects. Blood sugar levels were almost identical between those who did and didn't take the vitamin E. However, blood levels of insulin and triglyceride were significantly lower in the vitamin E group-both signs of reduced heart disease risk. In addition, LDL levels decreased and HDL levels increased, creating a much more favorable ratio between the two.

"We conclude that chronic intake of pharmacological doses of vitamin E might be useful in the therapy of elderly insulin-resistant patients with coronary heart disease," Paolisso wrote in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (April 1995;61:848-852).

The information provided by Jack Challem and The Nutrition Reporter™ newsletter is strictly educational and not intended as medical advice. For diagnosis and treatment, consult your physician.