Vitamin E research is questionable, some doctors think

Published December 4, 2004 in the North Island Weekender

I receive Dr. Jonathan Wright’s Nutrition and Healing Newsletter every month and in the September issue he brought up the subject of the European Union (EU) Directive on Dietary Supplements. At the same time I also received an anonymous fax warning of the harmful effects of beta-carotene.

Then Judy, age 54, asked me about my opinion of the latest Vitamin E research out of John Hopkins University where they announced that Vitamin E does more harm than good. I gave her my standard response then followed up with some research.

Deaths caused by vitamins, minerals and herbs amounts to less than 1% and in light of the fact that prescription medication is the fourth leading cause of death in North America any so called negative research about natural health products is not going to cause anywhere near the damage that prescription medications cause.
The researchers of these studies use only one nutrient at once and Naturopathic Physicians and those who practice Functional Medicine know that these nutrients work in concert with each other, not alone.
The form of the nutrient that is studied is often in question: ie synthetic forms are used rather than the natural form.
The dosages used are often very inadequate for a therapeutic response
The reporting of the statistics is often skewed.
The research is often not even published in a medical journal. The researchers go to the media with a press release and don’t even publish!

So here is the scientific rebuttal regarding Vitamin E as written by Dr.Verkerk director of Alliance for Natural Health in Great Britain. To see his full article go to www.alliance-natural-health.org

The vitamin E used in the study was synthetic alpha tocopherol and the better forms found naturally in the diet containing all four tocotrienols were not used in the study.
The studies were undertaken in the main on elderly persons suffering from chronic diseases, so it is not possible to conclude that higher supplemental doses of Vitamin E promote disease or increase death among healthy people.
This is a meta analysis of 19 studies dated from 1993-2004 and contain 11 studies that used not only synthetic vitamin E but also synthetic beta-carotene.

I told Judy that I use the mixed tocopherol natural form of non genetically modified soy source of Vitamin E and more recent research indicates that the succinate and the gamma-tocopherol form is better yet. Of course it is never the only anti-oxidant I prescribe at one time. Often I am also recommending selenium, vitamin A and or mixed carotenes along with vitamin C.

So this brings me to the question about beta-carotene and its negative research. In 1994, a Finnish study showed that beta-carotene contributed to lung cancer in men. What they failed to make clear in the news release is that the beta-carotene used was synthetic and the men were not only smokers but consumed a lot of alcohol.

Naturopathic physicians generally don’t use anti-oxidants in their singular state. In the case of beta-carotene I use a natural source mixed carotene supplement made from carrots and yams that provide all the carotenes not just the beta form, in their natural state.

I told Judy that what may be afoot is a bigger problem where the consumer is made to feel afraid of natural remedies in order for them to feel more comfortable with the EU Directives that seem to be destined to shape the health industry over the next several years.

The EU Directive is big news in Europe because the stage is being set to make the RDA’s (recommended dailly requirements of vitamins and minerals) to be far lower than their therapeutic range. This means that Europeans face not being able to purchase Vitamin C in doses higher than 200mg, folic acid not higher than 1mg, niacin not higher than 32 mgs, Vitamin B6 not higher than 10 mg for example. By August of 2005 the EU Directive hopes to be in full effect classifying vitamins and minerals as medical drugs rather than dietary supplements, which means they are subject to government regulation in terms of dosage and bioavailability. To make matters worse nutrients that are not on the RDA list including chromium picolinate, lysine and selenium, will be banned from over the counter sale and will be illegal to buy without a prescription. The Directive only allows supplements to be made from a list of 15 minerals and 13 vitamins leaving out another 40 that are important to human metabolism. As a result around 5000 safe formulas that have been on the market for decades will soon be banned in Europe.

How this effects us in North America, I explained to Judy, is that once this legislation is passed in Europe, due to the larger form of legislation called Codex Alimentarius, it is on the way of becoming global by the year 2007 and the remedies that she has come to rely may no longer be available, and if they are, by prescription only and at a much greater cost than she is paying today! Well of course Judy wanted to know what she could do and I told her to plug the word “codex” into the Friends of Freedom” in Canada website to find out who to contact by letter voicing her concerns about her freedom of choice for health care.

Will the consumer accept the fear and anxiety promoted by these articles and news items on the TV and radio, that natural nutrients such as Vitamin E and A in larger than RDA dosages cause further health problems, or will they realize that the methodology of such research is flawed and limited in scope and so is the way they are reported.

For further information look at Friends of Freedom in Canada: www.friendsoffreedom.org
In the United States: International Advocates for Health Freedom: www.iahf.com

In Europe: Alliance for Natural Health: www.alliance-natural-health.org.

Dr. Pincott has been practicing naturopathic medicine since 1985 and is currently practicing in Campbell River. She can be reached at (250) 286-3655 or www.DrPincott.com