Vitamin E Delays Aging, Study Suggests (an excerpt from an article in The Arizona Republic, Tuesday, May 28, 1996. New York Times, Associate Press)

....The study, directed by Dr. Marguerite Kay and colleagues at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center i Tucson, showed that in both middle age and old animals, dietary supplements of vitamin E can delay or prevent age-related degradation of a crucial strand of proteins in the brain and white blood cells. These proteins, known as "band 3" proteins, are found in all mammalian cells, which suggests that people and other animals can reap the same benefits as the laboratory mice.

....for vitamin E, which occurs mostly in vegetable oils, seeds and nuts, the amounts found protective in laboratory studies, from 100 to 400 international units, cannot be achieved through a normal diet, particularly a diet that is low in fat.

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"Vitamin E Found to Aid Cataracts" (an excerpt from the Arizona Republic, Friday, May 29, 1998. Article by Richard Knox, Boston Globe)

Vitamin E sharply reduces the risk that a cataract will worsen, according to a new study that lends additional evidence to the vitamin's health benefits.

Earlier studies had indicated that the vitamin can prevent heart attacks, lower the risk of ALzheimer's disease, and boost immune functions.

Among 744 senior citizens, those who took vitamin E supplements had half the risk that their cataracts would progress over a 4.5 year period. Taking a multivitamin pill lowered the risk by one-third.

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"Prostate Cancer Slashed by Vitamin E in Study" (from the Arizona Republic, Wednesday, March 18, 1998. Article by Paul Recer, AP)

Pills cut risk 32%, death rates 41%

Vitamin E pills reduced prostate cancer risk by a third and the disease's death rate by 41 percent in a study of thousands of smokers, researchers re port....

"There may be a pattern developing of some kind of broad cancer-preventative effect from vitamin E," said Dr. Demetrius Albanes, a National Cancer Institute researcher and study co-author...

Albanes said detailed analysis of the study shows that vitamin E, in the form of alpha tocopherol, provides some protection against colorectal cancer and lung cancer, although these data are not as dramatic as the prostate cancer results....

Dr Ishwarlal Jialal, a researcher at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, said the study "is a very significant observation" on the anti-cancer efforts of vitamin E.

Jialal said his earlier research has shown that vitamin E helps reduce heart disease and has other benefits.

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