Can Supplementing with Vitamin E Kill You?
Dose of Reality
By now, you've probably heard about the big meta-study that
put vitamin E into Big Pharma's crosshairs. Headlines have
been emblazoned with warnings that supplementing with
vitamin E could kill you. Granted, it's selling a lot of
newspapers. But here at Nutrition & Healing, we're not
concerned. Nor is Dr. Wright changing any of his
recommendations involving vitamin E. Here's why…
First, a "meta-study" sounds impressive -- they estimated that
it included over 135,000 participants. That makes it sound
like any conclusions that come from such a big sample are
carved in stone. Here's the problem: A meta-study compiles
data from other studies and tries to make conclusions and
spot patterns. In this case, I believe they have failed
miserably.
The data comes from combining a total of 19 studies, and
here are just a few of the flaws they contain that cast serious
doubt about the conclusion:
All of the studies included patients who already had one or
more chronic illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes,
Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, or kidney failure. All of these
subjects were already at risk for early morbidity. Yet the
study's conclusion extrapolates this data to all healthy
individuals without taking any of the many complicated
factors into account.
Out of the 19 studies examined, only one of them showed
data that was statistically significant for "high" doses of
vitamin E as a possible cause. But half the people in that
study were taking other vitamins and minerals in addition to
vitamin E, so the conclusion that E was the culprit can't be
proven. Also, they examined "all-cause" death, which means
that the participants, who were already at high-risk for
morbidity, could have died from any of a number of causes.
No real link to vitamin E can be even remotely proven with
so many other competing factors.
Oh, and how could I forget? The icing on the cake is that the
meta-study was partially funded by the pharmaceutical
industry, which, as you know, doesn't make any profits when
people take un-patentable supplements such as vitamin E, but
stands to gain a great deal if they can convince people to take
pharmaceuticals instead.
Taking all of these factors into account, this one report
doesn't even come close to outweighing the thousands of
previous studies that have shown vitamin E to be a highly
beneficial tool for disease prevention and overall health
maintenance.
I hope this little dose of reality puts you at ease. It's like our
mothers always tried to tell us: You can't believe everything
you read.
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The bark that's better than its bite
Q: I realize that aging comes with its share of aches and
pains, but the pain in my lower back is getting out of hand.
I'm hesitant to go to my regular doctor about it, though. All
they seem to do is prescribe pills that knock you out, or try to
get you on the operating table. And I've never witnessed
anyone who's had back surgery come out feeling all that
much better. Do you have any suggestions?
JVW: The fact that low back pain is a common complaint
doesn't make it any easier when it's your turn. But there is a
lot you can try to relieve your pain before submitting to
narcotics or surgery.
First, you might want to try willow bark, the natural anti-
inflammatory that actually served as the basis for aspirin.
Many researchers have maintained that willow bark has even
more to offer than our synthetic pharmaceuticals when it
comes to relieving back pain.
Another possibility to explore is vitamin D deficiency. In
fact, the Mayo Clinic did a study last year in an inner city
clinic that discovered 93 percent of the 150 people with
complaints of chronic, non-specific low back pain had
vitamin D deficiency. And these weren't just older
folks…they ranged in age from 10 to 65 years old.
While you could check these out on your own, it's always a
good idea to work with a doctor who is open to looking at
nutritional and natural solutions for your pain.
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What is...willow bark?
Willow bark is a natural remedy that has been used for
centuries in numerous cultures, including Chinese and Native
American. It is gathered from the bark of the white willow
tree (Salix alba), although there are some other types of
willow that appear to have varying degrees of the same
medicinal effect. This effect is believed to come from salicin,
which the body converts to salicylic acid.
In order to make money from the incredible pain-killing
properties of willow bark, the pharmaceutical industry
needed to make it synthetic and patentable -- and the version
they came up with is what we now know as aspirin. But
many feel that the original willow bark outperforms aspirin
with far fewer negative side effects.
Yours in good health,
Amanda Ross
Managing Editor
Nutrition & Healing
Sources:
Miller ER, Pastor-Barriuso R, et al. "Meta-Analysis: High-
Dosage Vitamin E Supplementation May Increase All-Cause
Mortality." Ann Intern Med 2004; 42(1)
Sears, Al, MD, "The Truth Behind The Vitamin E Death
Scare," Health Alert, 12/13/0
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