THE ANTIOXIDANTS STORY CONTINUED #5

Continued from Yesterday.....

The Proof in the Research

Although many doctors and pharmacists may find many in vitro studies to be promising, this kind of research alone rarely is enough to convince them that they should recommend antioxidants to their patients and customers. "The only way to be impressed is to see what happens in long-term health outcomes," said Richard Herrier, Pharm.D., assistant professor at the College of Pharmacy at the University of Arizona. "Those are the types of studies being conducted with vitamin E. I read the results of some studies and say to myself that is really great in the test tube, but I want to see it in a patient and see how the human body handles it. For example, in the case of vitamin C, so much of it in mega-doses is not used by the body and is just excreted away. This raises the question of how much vitamin C exactly is enough. We need more vitamin E-like studies, and I think you are going to find that this is going to happen."

The vitamin-E type studies that Herrier hopes to see are ones that indicate the effects of a given antioxidant on a person's health outcome (i.e., how the person's health status changes). Health outcomes would include, for example, a change in the incidence of heart attacks or cancers in the tested population. Epidemiological studies with enormous populations of test subjects have also indicated positive outcomes of vitamin E supplementation in reducing heart disease risk. In a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, 39,910 U.S. males aged 40 to 75 who were free of diagnosed coronary heart disease, diabetes and hypercholesterolemia completed detailed dietary questionnaires that assessed their usual intake of vitamin C, beta carotene and vitamin E, in addition to other nutrients. The researchers concluded that the results provided evidence of an association between high intake of vitamin E and a lower risk of coronary heart disease in men.

In another study that also was published in The New England Journal of Medicine (interestingly, a medical journal with a propensity for running editorials and letters that question the efficacy and safety of dietary supplements), 34,486 postmenopausal women with no cardiovascular disease also completed a questionnaire that assessed intakes of vitamins A, E and C from foods and supplements. During approximately seven years of follow-up, 242 of the women died of coronary heart disease. The researchers reported, "vitamin E consumption appeared to be inversely associated with the risk of death from coronary heart disease. This association was particularly striking in the subgroup of 21,809 women who did not consume vitamin supplements."

Continued Tomorrow....

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