By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, August 14, 2005, abstracted from “Long-term Nutrient Intake and 5-Year Change in Nuclear Lens Opacities” in the April 2005 issue, Archives of Ophthalmology
The last few months have been a turbulent time for vitamin E. First a negative study on Vitamin E was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.1 This study had poor design and the many other flaws of the study were quickly pointed out2 while other studies continued to show the safety and health-promoting benefits of vitamin E supplementation,(3, 4, 5, 6) including helping prevent heart-related deaths in women.7
Now a new study8 has found yet another reason for people to start supplementing vitamin E in their diet: to help prevent cataracts. As the most common cause of blindness worldwide,9 cataracts increase with age from less than five percent in persons under 65 to approximately half of those 75 years of age and older.10 Cataracts refer to lens cloudiness that gradually interferes with vision and leads gradually to a loss of vision over months to years
In the study cited, 408 women aged 52 to 74 years completed five food frequency questionnaires over a 13- to 15-year period before the baseline evaluation of lens nuclear density. In addition to these questionnaires, researchers assessed vitamin supplement use with seven other questionnaires collected during this same period. Finally, they used computer-assisted image analysis of digital lens images to assess lens changes and cataract formation.
At the end of the study, researchers found women who never supplemented vitamin E had a 42% higher risk of getting cataracts than women who had supplemented vitamin E for 10 years. Unfortunately, the amounts of supplemented vitamin E were not discussed.
Despite not examining vitamin E amounts, the researchers concluded that “long-term use of vitamin E supplements…may reduce the progression of age-related lens opacification.”
Reference:
1 Miller ER 3rd. Meta-analysis: High-dosage vitamin E supplementation may increase all-cause mortality. Ann Intern Med. 2005; 142: 37-46
2 Council for Responsible Nutrition Website www.crnusa.org/vitaminEissafe.html
3 Ziaei, S., M. Zakeri, et al. (2005). "A randomised controlled trial of vitamin E in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhoea." Bjog 112(4): 466-9
4 Morris, M. C., D. A. Evans, et al. (2005). "Relation of the tocopherol forms to incident Alzheimer disease and to cognitive change." Am J Clin Nutr 81(2): 508-14
5 Jiang, Q., J. Wong, et al. (2004). "(gamma)-Tocopherol or combinations of vitamin E forms induce cell death in human prostate cancer cells by interrupting sphingolipid synthesis." Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 101(51): 17825-17830
6 Ascherio, A., M. G. Weisskopf, et al. (2004). "Vitamin E intake and risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis." Ann Neurol 57(1): 104-110
7 Lee IM. Vitamin E in the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer: The Women’s Health Study: A Randomized Controlled Trial. JAMA 2005: 294(1): 56-68
8 Jacques PF. Long-term Nutrient Intake and 5-Year Change in Nuclear Lens Opacities. Arch Ophthalmol. 2005;123:517-526
9 Foster A, Johnson GJ. Magnitude and causes of blindness in the developing world. Int Ophthalmol 1990;14:135-40
10 Kahn HA, Leibowitz HM, Ganley JP, Kini MM, Colton T, Nickerson RS, et al. The Framingham Eye Study. I. Outline and major prevalence findings. Am J Epidemiol 1977;106:17-32
Product Catalog : Store Finder : Quality : Health Library : About NOW : News & Events : Contact us