Vitamin E linked to heart failure risk

Large doses of vitamin E -- widely touted as an elixir of youth -- do not protect against heart attacks and cancer and might actually raise the risk of heart failure in people with diabetes or clogged arteries, researchers have found.

The study, published in the March 16 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Assn., is just the latest to cast doubt on the safety and effectiveness of vitamin E supplements and other antioxidants.

The study was designed to examine whether vitamin E pills protect against heart attacks and cancer. Echoing other recent findings, it found no benefit against those conditions. But the heart failure finding was unexpected and should prompt more research to confirm the results, said Dr. Eva Lonn, a McMaster University cardiology professor who led the study.

Lonn said it was unclear how vitamin E pills might be linked with heart failure, but she theorized that high doses might disturb the balance of naturally occurring antioxidants.

The study involved 7,030 patients with diabetes or cardiovascular disease other than heart failure. Patients 55 and older who took about 400 milligrams of vitamin E every day for about seven years on average were 13% more likely to develop heart failure than those on dummy pills. Heart failure was diagnosed in 641 vitamin E patients, compared with 578 patients in the placebo group.