Scientists yesterday suggested high doses of vitamin E supplements could shorten people's lives and that the risk of an early death starts with daily intakes a quarter of those previously thought safe in Britain.
Hundreds of thousands of people in the UK may take vitamin E at levels above 200 international units, or 134mg, the level above which US researchers say there may be an extra risk, although this only becomes significant at 400IU.
Each day, millions of others take it as part of their multivitamins but at a standard 10mg they are unlikely to be affected by the findings of the study presented to the American Heart Association in New Orleans. This followed other work which says vitamins at best had no benefit, and at worse might increase the risk of cancer, especially combinations of beta-carotene with either vitamin A or E.
The team behind the latest study called for a review of safety levels now fixed at 800IU (540mg) in Britain and 1,000IU in the US. Official bodies in neither country encourage supplementation, saying people should get enough vitamin from a diet which includes cereals, nuts, seeds or soya, corn or olive oil. The UK's Food Standards Agency said men needed no more than 4mg a day and women 3mg. It said "at the moment" it did not think 800IU would do any harm.
Antioxidant qualities of extra vitamin E have been touted as a protector against a host of diseases, either alone or with other supplements. These include prostate cancer, heart disease and strokes. The new study was a review of trials involving supplementation of 136,000 mostly older people in the US, Europe and China.
Edgar Miller, associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and lead author of the study, said: "I think people take vitamin E because they think it is going to make you live longer but this doesn't support that."
Ann Walker, an adviser to the Health Supplements Information Service in the UK, said: "Making such statements at this early stage in our understanding of vitamin E's full health potential could result in throwing the baby out with the bath water."
