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It is now widely accepted that heart disease is
caused by inflammation of
heart muscle. So, people, at the recommendation of their doctors or on
their own, take vitamin E, one of a group of antioxidants, or anti-inflammatory
agents, such as aspirin, hoping to prevent heart disease.
But a new 12-year study of almost 40,000 healthy women in Boston counters that view.
Concerning vitamin E, the study has found that 600 units taken every
other day, provided no significant benefit in preventing heart attack and
stroke.
Despite the disappointing news, study author I-Min Lee of Brigham and
Women's Hospital says there was an encouraging finding.
"Vitamin E supplementation had no effect on heart attacks. It had no
effect on stroke, but it did reduce cardiovascular deaths by 24
percent," Dr. Lee noted.
Women in the same study were also given 100 milligrams of aspirin every
other day. As with vitamin E, the aspirin was shown to have no benefit in
preventing cancer or increasing cancer survival among women.
The results of the study were published in the Journal of the American
Medical Association (AMA).
In a second article in the journal, the authors studied the effects of
low dose aspirin, 100 milligrams every other day, in the prevention of a
number of cancers. Again, the researchers found aspirin had no protective
effect against colon, breast or other types of cancer. But they did find a
slight reduction in the risk of lung cancer among women who took aspirin.
Nancy Cook is one of the study's authors.
"Our results aren't quite definitive by themselves. So they need
to be confirmed in other studies," said Ms. Cook.
While people await the results of those studies, an editorial in the
Journal of the American Medical Association recommends that a healthy
lifestyle through proper nutrition and exercise has proven
results. | 
