Vitamin E Studies Fatally Flawed

CORVALLIS, Ore.A new study and commentary in Free Radical Biology and Medicine suggest levels of vitamin E necessary to reduce oxidative stress are between 1,600 and 3,200 IU/dapproximately four to eight times higher than doses used in almost all past clinical trialspossibly making past trials virtually meaningless. The finding could help explain the inconsistent results of many vitamin E trials, according to the authors, Balz Frei, Ph.D., director of the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, and Jeffrey Blumberg, Ph.D., from the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Bostons Tufts University.

Future studies of vitamin E, the researchers said, must be done carefully and take into consideration all the newer findings about the nutrient. For example, natural forms of vitamin E have been shown to be more readily absorbed than synthetic types; also, vitamin E supplements must be taken with a fat-containing meal to facilitate absorption. Frei said: We need to select people for trials properly, make sure they are taking the right form of the vitamin at the right levels and at the right time, and then verify the metabolic results with laboratory testing.