The chairman of the editorial board of the UC Berkeley Wellness Letter and berkeleywellness.com, an internist specialized in infectious disease, Dr. John Swartzberg made public his opinion that supplements of vitamin E might be risky for certain people's health.
Dr. John Swartzberg is a reputable specialist, also a clinical professor emeritus of medicine at the Berkeley School of Public Health at the University of California and the San Francisco School of Medicine. He published an article in Live Science's Expert Voices expressing his opinion on vitamin E supplements.
According to Dr. Swatzberg, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley discovered vitamin E almost a century ago. Since then, many studies have researched the potential health benefits of this powerful antioxidant. Antioxidants are proved in lab experiments to be able to neutralize potentially harmful free radicals. This might bring to the conclusion that they could also confer the same benefits in the body. Researchers and supplement makers have predicted over the years that vitamin E would help prevent Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, cancer, as well as help maintain skin glowing and healthy eyesight. In recent years vitamin E supplement sales soared, fueled by hype and hope.
However, what the research actually shows is a different story. While early studies found a benefit, especially for heart disease, these studies were not always well designed and were mostly observational and not clinical trials. Researchers used to just ask people whether or not they took vitamin E supplements and then evaluated their health.
Recent studies performed on a better scientific methodology base, including well-designed clinical trials, have found no benefit in taking vitamin E supplements. Several studies even suggest that high doses of vitamin E could actually be harmful to human health. Among them is included the study made in 2008 on heart disease and stroke which found that vitamin E slightly increased the risk of hemorrhagic strokes. Another study on longevity done by the Cochrane Collaboration, an independent group that evaluates health research evidence has found no benefits of vitamin E in protecting against diseases and increasing longevity. More recent studies have even find that vitamin E supplements are associated with increased mortality.
Dr. Swatzber's article ends with the conclusion that people may want to discuss these supplements with their doctor. There are some studies showing that vitamin E supplements may reduce benefits patients with certain medical conditions, for instance, it can help in liver damage caused by inflammation from aggressive nonalcoholic fatty liver disease associated with obesity. People with macular degeneration should also talk with their doctor about vitamin E supplements that may slow progression of this incurable eye disease.
