LOS ANGELES: Indiscriminate use of high-dose Vitamin E supplementation may do more harm than good, a new study warns.

Researchers at Tel Aviv University (TAU) came to the conclusion after examining data from more than 300,000 subjects in the US, Europe and Israel. Their findings were published in the latest issue of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, a leading journal of cardiology.

Applying a very different approach than any previous study, the team of researchers put their heads together to draw definitive conclusions about Vitamin E.

Analysis of the results of all these past publications together revealed that subjects who did not take a Vitamin E supplement enjoyed more quality-adjusted-life-years (QALY), a standard parameter used in medicine to assess the effect of medical interventions.

"There were so many conflicting reports about Vitamin E and its effect on various diseases, particularly heart disease, that we wanted to set the record straight," says Prof. Dov Lichtenberg of TAU's Sackler School of Medicine.

"Our new study shows that some people may be harmed by the treatment, whereas others may benefit from it. Now we're trying to identify groups of people that are most likely to benefit from the effects of Vitamin E," adds study co-researcher Dr. Ilya Pinchuk.

"Our major finding was that the average quality-adjusted life years (QALY) of Vitamin E-supplemented individuals was 0.30 less than that of untreated people. This, of course, does not mean that everybody consuming Vitamin E shortens their life by almost 4 months. But on average, the quality-adjusted longevity is lower for vitamin-treated people. This says something significant."

新研究警告：不要过量服用维他命E

最新的研究警告人们，随意补充高剂量的维他命E可能弊大于利。

以色列特拉维夫大学(TAU)的研究人员对美国、欧洲和以色列的30万人士的数据进行调查后得出以上结论。这项新发现发表于最新一期的权威心脏病学杂志《动脉粥样硬化、血栓及血管生物学》。

由于研究方式有别于以往，研究组的成员们经过共同商议后最终得出以上关于维他命E的结论。

对以往发表的研究文章进行分析后的结果显示，没有补充维他命E的人们拥有更长的生活质量调整寿命年(QALY)，QALY是医学上用于评估医学干预影响的标准参数。

以色列特拉维夫大学Sackler医学院的Dov Lichtenberg教授说：“关于维他命E对多种疾病，尤其是心脏疾病，的作用的报告非常多，但是它们所得出的结论都不一致，所以我们希望能够弄清真相。

研究组成员Dr. Ilya Pinchuk补充说：“我们的新研究显示，补充维他命E对一部分人有害，但却对另一部分人有利。我们现在正试图确定补充维他命E最可能对哪些人有利。”

“我们的核心发现是补充维他命E的个人的平均QALY比没有补充维他命E的个人的平均QALY要少0.30。当然，这并不意味着服用维他命E的每一个人都会减寿近4个月。但一般说来，他们的生活质量调整寿命值比比没有补充维他命E的人们要低。这个发现是具有重大意义的。”