by Andrew W. Saul
Editor, Orthomolecular Medicine News Service

(OMNS, Oct 14, 2011) The very first Orthomolecular Medicine News Service release was on the clinical benefits of vitamin E. That was seven years ago. (1) In fact, the battle over vitamin E has been going full-tilt for over 60 years. (2)

Well, you can say one thing for vitamin critics: at least they are consistent. Consistently wrong, but consistent.

A recent accusation against vitamin E is that somehow it increases risk of prostate cancer. (3) That is nonsense. If you take close look at the numbers, you will see that “Compared with placebo, the absolute increase in risk of prostate cancer per 1000 person-years was 1.6 for vitamin E, 0.8 for selenium, and 0.4 for the combination.” That works out to be a claimed 0.63% increase risk with vitamin E alone, 0.24% increase in risk with vitamin E and selenium, and 0.15% increase in risk for selenium alone.

Note the decimal points: these are very small figures. But more importantly, note that the combination of selenium with vitamin E resulted in a much smaller number of deaths. If vitamin E were really the problem, vitamin E with selenium would have been a worse problem. Selenium recharges vitamin E, recycling it and effectively rendering it more potent. Something is wrong here, and it isn’t the vitamin E. Indeed, a higher dose of vitamin E might work as well as E with selenium, and be more protective.

And, in fact, this study did show that supplementation was beneficial. Vitamin E and selenium reduced risk of all-cause mortality by about 0.2%., and also reduced the risk of serious cardiovascular events by 0.3%. Vitamin E reduced risk of serious cardiovascular events by 0.7%. But what you were told, and just about all you were told, was “Vitamin E causes cancer!”

The oldest political trick in the book is to create doubt, then fear, and then conformity of action. The pharmaceutical industry knows this full well. One does not waste time and money attacking something that does not work. Vitamin E works, and the evidence is abundant.

Specifically in regards to prostate cancer, new research published in the International Journal of Cancer has shown that gamma-tocotrienol, a cofactor found in natural vitamin E preparations, actually kills prostate cancer stem cells. (4) As you would expect, these are the very cells from which prostate cancer develops. They are or quickly become chemotherapy-resistant. And yet natural vitamin E complex contains the very thing to kill them. Mice given gamma-tocotrienol orally had an astonishing 75% decrease in tumor formation. Gamma-tocotrienol also is effective against existing prostate tumors. (5,6)

Additionally:

• Vitamin E reduces mortality by 24% in persons 71 or older. Even persons who smoke live longer if they take vitamin E. Hemila H, Kaprio J. Age Ageing, 2011. 40(2): 215-220. January 17. http://ageing.oxfordjournals.org/content/40/2/215.short
• Taking 300 IU vitamin E per day reduces lung cancer by 61%. (Mahabir S, Schendel K, Dong YQ et al. Dietary alpha-, beta-, gamma- and delta-tocopherols in lung cancer risk. Int J Cancer. 2008 Sep 1;123(5):1173-80.) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18546288 For further information: Vitamin E prevents lung cancer. Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, Oct 29, 2008. http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v04n18.shtml
• Vitamin E is an effective treatment for atherosclerosis. Drs. Wilfrid and Evan Shute knew this half a century ago. (1) In 1995, JAMA published research that confirmed it, saying: “Subjects with supplementary vitamin E intake of 100 IU per day or greater demonstrated less coronary artery lesion progression than did subjects with supplementary vitamin E intake less than 100 IU per day.” (Hodis HN, Mack WJ, LaBree L et al. Serial coronary angiographic evidence that antioxidant vitamin intake reduces progression of coronary artery atherosclerosis. JAMA, 1995. 273:1849-1854.) http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/273/23/1849.short
• 400 to 800 IU of vitamin E daily reduces risk of heart attack by 77%. (Stephens NG et al. Randomized controlled trial of vitamin E in patients with coronary artery disease: Cambridge Heart Antioxidant Study (CHAOS). Lancet, March 23, 1996; 347:781-786.) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8622332
• Increasing vitamin E with supplements prevents COPD [Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, chronic bronchitis] (Agler AH et al. Randomized vitamin E supplementation and risk of chronic lung disease (CLD) in the Women’s Health Study. American Thoracic Society 2010 International Conference, May 18, 2010.) Summary at http://www.thoracic.org/newsroom/press-releases/conference/articles/2010/vitamine-e.pdf
• 800 IU vitamin E per day is a successful treatment for fatty liver disease. (Sanyal AJ, Chalasani N, Kowdley KV et al. Pioglitazone, vitamin E, or placebo for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. N Engl J Med. 2010 May 6;362(18):1675-85.) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20427778
• Alzheimer’s patients who take 2,000 IU of vitamin E per day live longer. (Pavlik VN, Doody RS, Rountree SD, Darby EJ. Vitamin E use is associated with improved survival in an Alzheimer’s disease cohort. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord. 2009;28(6):536-40.) Summary at http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/719537/alzheimers_patients_who_take_vitamin.html?cat=5See also: Grundman M. Vitamin E and Alzheimer disease: the basis for additional clinical trials. Am J Clin Nutr. 2000 Feb;71(2):630S-636S. Free access to full text at http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/71/2/630s )
• 400 IU of Vitamin E per day reduces epileptic seizures in children by more than 60%. (Ogunmekan AO, Hwang PA. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, clinical trial of D-alpha-tocopheryl acetate [vitamin E], as add-on therapy, for epilepsy in children. Epilepsia. 1989 Jan-Feb; 30(1):84-9.) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2643513
• Vitamin E supplements help prevent amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). This important finding is the result of a 10-year-plus Harvard study of over a million persons. (Wang H, O’Reilly EJ, Weisskopf MG, et al. Vitamin E intake and risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a pooled analysis of data from 5 prospective cohort studies. Am. J. Epidemiol, 2011. 173 (6): 595-602. March 15) http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/173/6/595.short
• Vitamin E is more effective than a prescription drug in treating chronic liver disease (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis). Said the authors: “The good news is that this study showed that cheap and readily available vitamin E can help many of those with this condition.” Sanyal AJ, Chalasani N, Kowdley KV et al. Pioglitazone, vitamin E, or placebo for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. N Engl J Med. 2010 May 6;362(18):1675-85. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0907929

What Kind of Vitamin E?

Which work best: natural or synthetic vitamins? The general debate might not end anytime soon. However, with vitamin E, we already know. The best E is the most natural form, generally called “mixed natural tocopherols and tocotrienols.” This is very different from the synthetic form, DL-alpha tocopherol. In choosing a vitamin E supplement, you should carefully read the label… the entire label. It is remarkable how many natural-looking brown bottles with natural-sounding brand names contain a synthetic vitamin. And no, we do not make brand recommendations. Furthermore, OMNS has no commercial affiliations or funding.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case with some authors of the negative vitamin E paper. (3) You will not see this in the abstract at the JAMA website, of course, but if you read the entire paper, and get to the very last page (1556), you’ll find the “Conflict of Interest” section. Here you will discover that a number of the study authors have received money from pharmaceutical companies, including Merck, Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis, AstraZeneca, Abbott, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Amgen, Firmagon, and Novartis. In terms of cash, these are some of the largest corporations on the planet.

Well how about that: a “vitamins are dangerous” article, in one of the most popular medical journals, with lots of media hype . . . and the pharmaceutical industry’s fingerprints all over it.

So How Much Vitamin E?

More than the RDA, and that’s for certain. A common dosage range for vitamin E is between 200 and 800 IU/day. Some orthomolecular physicians advocate substantially more than that. The studies cited above will give you a ballpark idea. However, this is an individual matter for you and your practitioner to work out. Your own reading and research, before you go to your doctor, will help you determine optimal intake. If your doctor quotes a negative vitamin study, then haul out the positive ones. You may start with this article. There are more links to more information at http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n09.shtml and http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n25.shtml

Safety

And as for the old saw argument that supplement-users are supposedly dying like flies, consider this: Over 200 million Americans take vitamin supplements. So where are the bodies? Well, there aren’t any. There has not been a single death from vitamins in 27 years. http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v07n05.shtml . Share that with your doctor as well. And with the news media.

(Andrew W. Saul has been an orthomolecular medical writer and lecturer for 35 years. He received the Outstanding Health Freedom Activist Award from Citizen’s for Health, and is the winner of three Empire State teacher fellowships. Saul is author or coauthor of 10 books, four of which are with Abram Hoffer, M.D..)

References:

1. http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v01n01.shtml

2. Saul AW. Vitamin E: A cure in search of recognition. J Orthomolecular Med, 2003. Vol 18, No 3 and 4, p 205-212. Free download at http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/2003/pdf/2003-v18n0304-p205.pdf or html at http://www.doctoryourself.com/evitamin.htm . See also: Saul AW. Review of The vitamin E story, by Evan Shute. J Orthomolecular Med, 2002. Volume 17, Number 3, Third Quarter, p 179-181. http://www.doctoryourself.com/estory.htm

3. Klein EA, Thompson Jr, IM, Tangen CM et al. JAMA. 2011;306(14):1549-1556.
http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/306/14/1549 Also, as an example of many media spins:
http://www.webmd.com/prostate-cancer/news/20111011/vitamin-e-supplements-may-raise-prostate-cancer-risk

4. Sze Ue Luk1, Wei Ney Yap, Yung-Tuen Chiu et al. Gamma-tocotrienol as an effective agent in targeting prostate cancer stem cell-like population. International Journal of Cancer, 2011. Vol 128, No 9, p 2182-2191. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijc.25546/abstract

5. Nesaretnam K, Teoh HK, Selvaduray KR, Bruno RS, Ho E. Modulation of cell growth and apoptosis response in human prostate cancer cells supplemented with tocotrienols. Eur. J. Lipid Sci. Technol. 2008, 110, 23-31. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ejlt.200700068/abstract

6. Conte C, Floridi A, Aisa C et al. Gamma-tocotrienol metabolism and antiproliferative effect in prostate cancer cells. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2004. 1031: 391-4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15753178?dopt=AbstractPlus

Also of Interest:

Vitamin E research ignored by major news media. Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, May 25, 2010 http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n19.shtml

Credit

Article extracted from the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service,

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Antony Haynes and Leonie Ash attended the 20th International Symposium in Seattle with Mike Ash, who presented for the second time at an IFM Symposium. He  gave two superb presentations to the 600+  audience of doctors and health practitioners from over 20 countries.

The Symposium subject this year was: The Challenge of Emerging Infections in the 21st Century: Terrain, Tolerance, and Susceptibility.

On the night of the 20th Anniversary Party, we had the fantastic opportunity of meeting members of the teaching faculty who, with some esteemed guests, have signed a commemorative celebratory poster – http://www.nutri-linkltd.co.uk/documents/IFM_20th_Poster.pdf  – which we proudly brought back to the UK.

Here are some of the luminaries who signed the poster:

•    David Jones MD, President and Director of Medical Education & Co-Founder of IFM.

•    Mark Hyman MD, Chairman of IFM with his latest book ‘The UltraMind Solution’ being his 4th New York Times best seller.

•    Laurie Hoffman MPH, Executive Director

•    Catherine Willner MD, neurologist and previous Linus Pauling Award winner.

•    Bethany Hays MD, gynaecologist & faculty teacher on the AFMCP.

•    Joel Evans MD, Founder and Director of The Centre for Women’s Health

Why not consider attending the inaugural AFMCP-UK seminar this year: www.afmcp-uk.org

The American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) attributes annual deaths to vitamins as:

Even if these figures are taken as correct, and even if they include intentional and accidental misuse, the number of alleged vitamin fatalities is strikingly low, averaging less than one death per year for over two and a half decades. In 19 of those 27 years, AAPCC reports that there was not one single death due to vitamins. [1]

Still, the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service Editorial Board was curious: Did eleven people really die from vitamins? And if so, how?

Vitamins Not THE Cause of Death

In determining cause of death, AAPCC uses a four-point scale called Relative Contribution to Fatality (RCF). A rating of 1 means “Undoubtedly Responsible”; 2 means “Probably Responsible”; 3 means “Contributory”; and 4 means “Probably Not Responsible.” In examining poison control data for the year 2006, listing one vitamin death, it was seen that the vitamin’s Relative Contribution to Fatality (RCF) was a 4. Since a score of “4″ means “Probably Not Responsible,” it quite negates the claim that a person died from a vitamin in 2006.

Vitamins Not A Cause of Death

In the other seven years reporting one or more of the remaining ten alleged vitamin fatalities, studying the AAPCC reports reveals an absence of any RCF rating for vitamins in any of those years. If there is no Relative Contribution to Fatality at all, then the substance did not contribute to death at all.

Furthermore, in each of those remaining seven years, there is no substantiation provided to demonstrate that any vitamin was a cause of death.

If there is insufficient information about the cause of death to make a clear-cut declaration of cause, then subsequent assertions that vitamins cause deaths are not evidence-based. Although vitamin supplements have often been blamed for causing fatalities, there is no evidence to back up this allegation.

References:

1. Download any Annual Report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers from 1983-2009 free of charge at http://www.aapcc.org/dnn/NPDSPoisonData/NPDSAnnualReports.aspx The “Vitamin” category is usually near the very end of the report.

Most recent year: Bronstein AC, Spyker DA, Cantilena LR Jr, Green JL, Rumack BH, Giffin SL. 2009 Annual Report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers’ National Poison Data System (NPDS): 27th Annual Report. Clinical Toxicology (2010). 48, 979-1178. The full text article is available for free download at http://www.aapcc.org/dnn/Portals/0/2009%20AR.pdf

The vitamin data mentioned above will be found in Table 22B.

Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine

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This is the scene from Ofinato, ten days after the tsunami struck the town. Photograph: Lasse Petersen

As a company we have supported the work of ShelterBox based in Cornwall for the last few years and purchase one of their remarkable support boxes whenever we can. In response to the recent and dramatic events in Japan we have purchased a box to assist with the immediate support of families who have lost all their posessions and homes due to the tsunami and earthquake. I am sure that like us you cannot imagine the devastation and effects this will have on families and their work, their ability to function and the enormous difficulty in recovering.

The television provides us with information that seems too vast to take in, and whilst our donation seems alsmost insignificant in the face of the disastor the 10 people who will have a temporary shelter and all necessary tools to function will we hope know that others from around the world are thinking of them and wish them all the best in their challnges.

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The team has been based in and around Rikuzentakata and Ofinato, two towns which were hit by the full fury of the tsunami. In Rikuzentakata, according to the latest reports, more than 80% of the 8,000 households have been swept away. The town was well prepared against earthquakes and tsunamis but its 6.5 metre high seawall could do nothing to stop the force of the wave.

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The protest was aimed at the German Federal Ministry for Nutrition, Agriculture and Consumer Protection. Close on 60 thousand German State-registered Naturopathic Practitioners (Naturheilpraktiker) were motivated to have their patients, estimated at around 38 million, sign a petition at each practice reception and have them send e-mails and letters to a few hand-picked individuals at that Ministry. They reportedly each had to contend with an average of 15 thousand such communications every day over the past year.

The EFN is reporting that the campaign was an enormous success, in that it achieved the following three things:

(i) Removal of the legal requirement for physiologically active nutritional supplements to be classified as ‘p.o.m.’ medicines in Germany;

(ii) Making notification to the competent authority compulsory by laboratories the presence of undesirable substances in foodstuffs and animal feeds in amounts that might give rise for concern;

(iii) Foodstuff and animal feed enterprises will be obliged to report to the competent authority results of self-monitoring with respect to dioxins, furan and dioxin-like compounds, as well as non-dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls. Mass protests usually have an effect.

The hope we must all carry forward is that public and professional opinion is the defining voice in democracys as well as it appears these days in autocracies, but we have to harness it. For the UK and EU the Alliance for Natural Health is preparing a substantive legal challenge and requires financial as well as moral support. Please visit http://www.anh-europe.org/

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