For certain men, vitamin E supplements may help prolong their lives

The E isn’t for evil

You know those “Wanted Dead or Alive” posters that used to hang all over the Old West? The ones reserved for the dirtiest, scummiest, most evil of the evil?

I swear, I think if you look in the offices of the AMA, you’d see one just like that, with a picture of vitamin E right in the center.

And it’s not just the AMA. It’s a full-out manhunt (well, vitamin hunt) by the entire medical mainstream.

Well now it looks like there might be some good news. But don’t worry, the mainstream still found a way to make vitamin E look like Cruella Deville and make you the innocent little puppy.

I want that coat!

Last year I told you about a large study that found a link between vitamin E supplements and increased stroke risk. But as usual, a look at the fine print revealed that thousands of the subjects were already at high risk of either stroke or heart disease.

Linking vitamin E to those strokes is like trying to link hubcaps to auto accidents. They just don’t link!

And that’s exactly how it goes in study after study where vitamin E is painted as a villain. There’s always some detail that lets the air out of puffed-up conclusions about vitamin E dangers.

What’s surprising about this new study is that all the subjects were at higher risk of cardiovascular problems to begin with because they were all smokers.

Researchers at Finland’s University of Helsinki examined many years of data collected on more than 10,800 subjects. Their first conclusion: Vitamin E has no effect on mortality.

But when they looked at specific sub-groups, one group stood out.

Lifespan was extended by two years in more than 2,280 men who used vitamin E supplements, and also had a higher than average vitamin C intake, smoked less than a pack of cigarettes per day, and were at least 71 years old.

Now, that may not describe a lot of the population, but you can’t argue with the results.

Keeping with the mainstream’s stubborn refusal to give vitamin E the credit it deserves, Helsinki researchers’ concluded: “The lack of effect in 80% of this male cohort shows that vitamin E is no panacea for extending life expectancy.”

Well, okay, but if you’re a life-long smoker looking for a life-extending panacea in a pill, your expectations of what a pill can do might be a little too high.

But if you take a daily E to help control free radical damage throughout your body, that is a smart step toward living healthier. An E supplement is also likely to help keep your heart healthy, reduce stroke risk, empower your immune system, and maintain a healthy prostate.

And, no matter how many times they try to frame it, vitamin E isn’t an evil villain, as most mainstream literature would have you believe. And, as far as I know, E has never killed any puppies (although it does make their coats shinier so they probably would consider it an accomplice…)

Sources:
“Vitamin E may affect the life expectancy of men, depending on dietary vitamin C intake and smoking” Age and Ageing, Published online ahead of print 1/17/11, ageing.oxfordjournals.org