I was not trying to turn this post into a referendum on marketing
propaganda, and if you are not worried about your current supplement
consumption then please disregard my message with apologies.
That said, I work as a data analyst for a large non-profit research
company and, in my estimation, it is probably an exaggeration to label
the results of a study with 136,000 subjects "alarmist propaganda." I am
aware that there is much debate over how much and whether certain forms
of supplementation are safe or harmful.
However, I thought this study was particularly salient to the bike
racing community because many of us are taking *enormous* doses of
vitamin E, knowingly or not. One serving of Endurox has ~1400% of the
RDA for vitamin E, Power bars have 100%, lots of electrolyte drinks
contain it, and many of us take one of those "mongo" multi vitamins from
health stores that also have 500-1000% of the RDA. It would be difficult
to concieve of a balanced diet without supplements that provides this
much vitamin E. Therefore, my point in linking this article is simply
that too much of a good antioxidant thing may not be healthy. When you
finish your clinical study on vitamin E consumption with 136,000
participants please send your results along to the OBRA list. Until
then, perhaps you should refrain from giving medical advice?
Oh, and to your question "Do you know of anyone who has ever died or
even been hospitalized for an overdose of any kind of supplement?", can
we say "Ephedra."
J.Michael Manning wrote:
This kind of alarmist propoganda has been promoted for the last thirty
years. For every study that indicates some benefit, if you look hard
enough, you can find one that refutes it. I think we should use common
sense and realize that a moderate approach is always the best approach.
Do you know of anyone who has ever died or even been hospitalized for an
overdose of any kind of supplement? The bottom line is that we know
vitamins and minerals are necessary for good health. Most of us do not
eat correctly and should supplement to some degree. Trying to attain
that perfect balance is the tricky part. The real culprit, particularly
in heart related conditions, is poor dietary habits and lack of
meaningful activity. Not to mention that, as a society, we rely on drugs
to disguise our health problems. When was the last time you read an
article that discloses the nasty truth about the drug companies
pandering their products on millions of people for the sake of padding
their investment portfolios while countless innocent victims will
prematurely end their lives through the ingestion of legal medications
prescribed by their doctors?
J.Michael Manning
Derek Darves wrote:
I thought I would pass this along to the list since a lot of the
post-exercise supplement products (e.g. Endurox) contain massive doses
of Vitamin E - many times more than the RDA.
--Derek
Vitamin E May Increase Death Risk, Researchers Say
By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 10, 2004; 10:13 AM
High doses of vitamin E, which millions of people take to protect
themselves against heart attacks, Alzheimer's disease and other
ailments, appear to actually increase the overall risk of dying,
researchers reported today.
A new analysis of data from 19 studies involving nearly 136,000 people
found that beginning with the typical amount in a single vitamin E
supplement capsule, the risk of death from all causes increased as the
dose of vitamin E rose.
Although the study did not examine how vitamin E might have this effect,
other studies have suggested that the substance may boost the danger of
heart attacks and strokes, perhaps by affecting blood clotting or
blocking the beneficial effects of other nutrients, the researchers
said.
Whatever the mechanism, the findings indicate that no one should take
high doses of vitamin E regularly, and that current guidelines for what
is considered a safe maximum daily intake should be lowered, the
researchers said in a study presented at an American Heart Association
meeting in New Orleans.
"A lot of people take vitamins because they believe it will benefit
their health in the long term and prolong life," said Edgar R. Miller
III, an associate professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine, who led the research. "But our study shows that use
of high-dose vitamin E supplements certainly did not prolong life but
was associated with a higher risk of death."
The findings are the latest in a series of recent findings undermining
the theory that "antioxidant" substances may provide powerful protection
against a host of illnesses. Evidence had suggested that vitamins and
other compounds found naturally in many foods might reduce the risk of
heart disease, cancer and other illnesses by preventing unstable oxygen
molecules known as free radicals from damaging DNA. That has prompted
many Americans to take supplements containing high doses of
antioxidants, including vitamin E.
In 2003, Americans spent $710 million on vitamin E, making it the second
most popular individual vitamin behind vitamin C, according to the
Nutrition Business Journal, which tracks industry trends.
But when researchers have attempted to give antioxidants to prevent
disease, the results largely have been disappointing, and sometimes
alarming. Beta carotene, for example, was found to increase rather than
decrease the risk of lung cancer.
The latest study suggests that may be true for vitamin E as well,
experts said.
"This just shows us once again that very high level of individual
nutrients can have adverse effects," said Alice Lichtenstein, a
professor of nutrition at Tufts University who chairs the nutrition
committee of the American Heart Association, which in August recommended
against antioxidant supplements to reduce the risk of heart disease.
Other researchers, however, questioned the new findings, saying the new
analysis was flawed and that other studies have shown a benefit from
taking vitamin E and other antioxidants.
"There is a small statistical effect here that they have found, but we
don't believe it's necessarily an important biological effect," said
Annette Dickinson, president of the Council for Responsible Nutrition,
an industry-funded group. "We think they've overstated the importance of
the findings."
While there is only weak evidence that antioxidants reduce the risk of
cancer, there is strong evidence that vitamin E and vitamin C cancer
reduce the risk of heart and kidney disease, said Ishwarlal Jialal, an
antioxidant researcher at the University of California-Davis.
"Vitamin E is clearly an antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory agent, and
it's been shown in some studies to reduce heart disease either alone or
in combination with vitamin C," he said.
The latest study, however, found that the overall death rate appeared to
increase beginning with individuals taking 400 international units per
day, Miller and his colleagues reported in a paper that will be
published in the Jan. 4, 2005, issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
They reached that conclusion by reanalyzing data collected by 19 studies
conducted between 1993 and 2004 involving a total of 135,967 patients in
North America, Europe and China using a technique known as
meta-analysis. People who had been taking at least 400 international
units daily for at least 5 years faced a 5 percent increased risk of
death from any cause, Miller said.
No increased risk was seen at lower dosages, the researchers found.
On average, people get about 10 international units of vitamin E from
diet, primarily from consuming foods such as corn, nuts, seeds, olives,
spinach, asparagus and other green leafy vegetables and vegetable oils.
Multivitamin pills usually contain 30 to 60 international units of
vitamin E. But vitamin E supplement capsules contain anywhere from about
400 to 800 international units.
Federal nutritional guidelines do not recommend vitamin E
supplementation but state that doses as high as 1,000 international
units per day are safe. Based on the findings, Miller and his colleagues
recommended the upper limits be reevaluated.
"Certainly there's no benefits to high-dose vitamin E intake, and we did
demonstrate harm, so we're not recommending people take high-dose
vitamin E supplementation," Miller said.
Technology is the future.