From: Doug Skrecky (oberon@vcn.bc.ca)
Date: Thu Dec 03 1998 - 18:47:28 MST
From: dcox@ix.netcom.com (Danny Cox)
Newsgroups: misc.health.alternative,sci.life-extension
Vitamin E: Just What The Doctor Ordered The Key
Ingredient To Fight Disease, Stay Healthy
Author: Glenn Garelik
The good news on vitamin E just keeps getting better.
Studies have shown it reduces the risk of developing
heart disease and various types of cancer. And it helps
minimize skin damage like scarring, sunburn and liver
spots.
It also may diminish memory loss due to aging,
while improving athletic and sexual performance, as
well as lung capacity.
Recent research has found that vitamin E may also
help slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease,
Parkinson's disease and AIDS. Not bad for a substance
that wasn't even deemed essential until '66.
A recent report in the Journal of the National
Cancer Institute found that taking as little as 75
international units a day reduced the risk of
developing prostate cancer in male smokers between 50
and 69 years of age by 32%. It reduced the risk of
dying from prostate cancer by 41%.
Most commercial supplements contain 400 IUs of
vitamin E.
The latest issue of the journal Ophthalmology
reported that among 750 people with cataracts,
those who took vitamin E cut the chance the condition
would worsen by half.
Vitamin E seems to boost the immune system,
researchers say. A study published last year in
the Journal of the American Medical Association found
that healthy older adults who took 300 IUs a day for
four months had a two-thirds boost in immune function.
''We're seeing a beneficial effect of vitamin E
across a spectrum of diseases,'' said Dr. Donald
Hensrud, a nutrition and preventive medicine specialist
at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
The vitamin also acts as an antioxidant,
protecting the body from attack by ''free radicals,''
an unstable form of oxygen that can damage vital cell
structures. And it interferes with one of the processes
that turns cholesterol into artery- narrowing plaque.
It also seems to counter blood clotting, which can jam
the vessel's narrowed bore.
The first large-scale studies of vitamin E's
impact on coronary artery disease took place in the
'80s. People who took vitamin E, on average, had a
one-third lower risk of developing the problem than
those who didn't.
Data regarding fatalities are more striking.
People with atherosclerosis who took 400 or 800
IUs of vitamin E daily had 75% fewer deadly heart
attacks than those who did not, the '96 Cambridge Heart
Antioxidant Study reported. A decade-long study by the
National Institute on Aging found that among 11,000
subjects over the age of 67, those who took vitamin E
cut by a third their risk of dying from any cause.
Years of large-scale studies around the U.S. also
indicate that taking vitamin E lowers the risk
of developing cancer of the colon, breast, cervix and
other areas.
Consumers have been paying attention. According to
Kline & Co., a marketing firm for drug and chemical
companies, sales of vitamin E supplements in the U.S.
have grown since '90 at an average of 15% a year.
How can you get vitamin E?
Low-fat dietary sources of vitamin E are pretty
much limited to whole grains, wheat germ and fortified
cereals. Most foods highest in
vitamin E are also high in fat, such as oils, seeds and
nuts. And with oils, cooking breaks down the content of
the vitamin, reducing its potency and, as a result, the
benefits of the vitamin.
''Generally, I recommend getting vitamins and
nutrients through the diet,'' Hensrud said. ''But in
the case of vitamin E, it's difficult to get the amount
believed to be beneficial through diet alone.''
The solution is supplements, which can be organic
or synthetic. The organic type usually comes from
soybean or wheat germ oil and carries the prefix ''d''
in the list of ingredients. The synthetic has ''dl.''
(C) Copyright 1998 Investors Business Daily, Inc. <br>
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