NIH Radio
Vitamin E Doesn't Lower Women's Risk for Heart Disease, Stroke, or Cancer
Brief Description:
New results from the "Women's Health Study" show that vitamin E supplements do not protect women against cardiovascular disease, strokes, or cancer.
Transcript:
Schmalfeldt: According to some newly published results from the Women's Health Study, Vitamin E supplements do not protect healthy women against cardiovascular disease, strokes or cancer. This news comes after a 12-year study of nearly 40-thousand women age 45 or older. In recent years, there's been a great deal of scientific interest in the potential of antioxidants like Vitamin E to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. But the study, funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the National Cancer Institute, showed no significant statistical differences in the rate of non-fatal heart attacks and strokes, or in deaths from all causes between the group taking the vitamin supplement and the group taking a placebo. Captain Eleanor Schron (rhymes with "phone"), Deputy Group Leader in the NHLBI's Clinical Trials Scientific Research Group, Division of Epidemiology and Clinical Applications, says that women taking Vitamin E in the hopes of avoiding specific diseases should consider other approaches.
Schron:This study indicates that for cardiovascular disease prevention, women should instead focus on healthy lifestyle behaviors. Eat a healthy diet. Prevent high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol. Be physically active. Lose weight if overweight. And if you smoke, quit!
Schmalfeldt: Captain Schron encouraged women to learn more about proven methods of preventing heart disease, the number one killer of women, by logging onto www.hearttruth.gov. The results of the study were published in the July 6th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. From the National Institutes of Health, I'm Bill Schmalfeldt in Bethesda, Maryland.
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