I have fruition ofed "Insider ...

I have fruition ofed "Insider Supplement Secrets" in your January 2005 issue (p 42) I'm curious to know if Dr Ornish and Dr Erasmus continue to take vitamin E after the latter information about its harmful effects

Linda Ashcraft * Via email

Senior contributing editor Michael Downey responds: Dr Ornish and Erasmus do continue to take vitamin E They know that the studious mood reported in the November 10 2004 Annals of Internal Medicine was taken gone out of context by some media.

In fact, the researchers themselves warned about the risk of generalizing from the close attention and stated that the issue applies only to those afflicted with serious diseases as it was as cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer's. An steady closer look shows that the investigation was a review of 19 earlier trials, simply one of which showed any greater mortality risk. These findings were limited to a self-same specific group; showed an extremely weak relationship at best; and were highly selective.

Meanwhile, a latter study concludes that vitamin E defend s elderly patients from upper respiratory infections. And a consideration published in the November 2004 issue of Diabetes infers that about 40 percent of diabetic patients can attenuate their risk of heart attacks by means of taking vitamin E supplements. Perhaps because the inferences were not surprising, this research received virtually no media attention.

COPYRIGHT 2005 PRIMEDIA Intertec, a PRIMEDIA Company. All Rights Reserved

COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group