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Vitamin E Supplements
March 18, 2005
What are the results of the HOPE-TOO Study?
A report published in the March 16, 2005 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association finds no clear evidence that men and women who had vascular disease or diabetes and who took 400 i.u. of vitamin E daily for 7 years reduced their risk of cancer compared to others with these conditions who took a placebo. The study was not large enough to determine if vitamin E could prevent specific cancers.
The report also showed that those taking vitamin E had a 13 percent increased risk of heart failure, a condition in which the heart's ability to pump blood is weakened. The report comes from a clinical trial called the Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation Study Extension (HOPE-TOO).
These results emphasize the need to study vitamins and other natural products prior to making public health recommendations.
How do study results affect the SELECT Prostate Cancer Prevention Study?
NCCAM and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), parts of the National Institutes of Health, support the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) in which men are taking 400 i.u. of vitamin E daily to determine if it prevents prostate cancer.
SELECT has a Data and Safety Monitoring Committee (DSMC), a group of independent scientists, an ethicist, and a patient advocate. The DSMC periodically examines information about the study and new information that might affect the study to ensure the safety of the study participants. The DSMC for SELECT reviewed data from HOPE-TOO which was released in 2003 at a medical meeting. After that review, they determined SELECT should continue as designed. The DSMC will review the updated analysis from HOPE-TOO.
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