X-Message-Number: 15339
From: "Jan Coetzee" <>
Subject: Aspirin, Not Vitamin E, Prevents Heart Attack 
Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2001 22:28:30 -0500

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Aspirin, Not Vitamin E, Prevents Heart Attack 


NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When it comes to fighting heart disease and stroke, 
low doses of aspirin pack a powerful punch, but vitamin E lands only a couple 
jabs at best, new research shows. 


In a study of about 4,500 men and women age 50 and older, Italian researchers 
found that one aspirin per day cut the risk of dying from heart attack or stroke
nearly in half. 


Daily doses of vitamin E, however, showed no benefit, with the exception of a 
lower risk for artery disease in the legs. The findings are published in the 
January 13th issue of The Lancet. Dr. Maria Carla Roncaglioni of the Istituto di
Ricerche Farmacologiche in Milan led the study. 


While research has consistently shown that the blood-thinning effects of 
low-dose aspirin protect against cardiovascular disease, studies on vitamin E 
have yielded conflicting results. 


As an antioxidant, vitamin E helps neutralize free radicals, cell-damaging 
substances that circulate in the body. Some research suggests this translates 
into protection from heart disease and stroke. 


Although the current study is not likely to end the debate over whether vitamin 
E is beneficial, it does bolster the results of trials that have suggested the 
supplement has little effect on heart health. 


Roncaglioni's team looked at men and women who had least one risk factor for 
cardiovascular disease, such as high blood pressure, diabetes or obesity. 
Subjects were assigned to take either aspirin and vitamin E, aspirin alone, 
vitamin E alone, or neither. They were followed for an average of 3.6 years 
before the trial was stopped early due to the clear benefit of aspirin. 


The researchers found that in addition to slashing subjects' death risk, aspirin
also lowered their risk for non-fatal heart attacks and stroke, chest pain and 
other cardiovascular problems. Bleeding complications were, however, more common
among subjects on aspirin, although they were still infrequent. 


Together with earlier research, these findings should give doctors the 
``confidence'' to recommend low doses of aspirin for preventing first heart 
attacks and strokes, according to an editorial published with the report. 


As for vitamin E, writes Dr. Walter W. Rosser of the University of Toronto, 
Canada, any benefit it has seems ``weak and awaits discovery.'' 

SOURCE: The Lancet 2000;357:89-95. 


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