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Health News Archive 487 - Cardiac Related Mortality
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Higher Serum Vitamin E Levels Lower Mortality Risk

After an earlier poorly reported study suggested vitamin E supplements could possibly increase all-cause mortality, researchers from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Public Health Institute of Finland found higher serum levels of vitamin E may reduce the risk of total and cause-specific mortality.

The prospective cohort study involved 29,092 Finnish male smokers aged 50 to 69 who participated in the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene (ATBC) Cancer Prevention Study; researchers measured fasting serum alpha-tocopherol and examined its association with total and cause-specific mortality.

Only 10 percent of participants reported use of vitamin E supplements at baseline. During 19 years of follow-up, 13,380 deaths were reported, including 4,518 from cancer and 5,776 from cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Men in the highest quintile of serum alpha-tocopherol had 18-percent reduced risk of total mortality, compared to those in the lowest quintile; further, the risks of deaths due to cancer, CVD and other causes were reduced by 21 percent, 19 percent and 30 percent, respectively.

The researchers concluded higher circulating levels of alpha-tocopherol within normal range helped lower mortality in older male smokers.

Source: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (84, 5:1200-7, 2006).

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