Vit E may ward off diabetic heart attacks

Vitamin E supplements can significantly reduce the risk of heart attacks and related deaths for diabetics who carry a particular version of a gene, according to researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and the Clalit Health Services in Israel.

After 18 months of treatment, people with the haptoglobin (Hp) 2-2 gene who took 400 International Units of vitamin E daily had more than 50% fewer heart attacks, strokes, and related deaths than Hp 2-2 patients who took a placebo pill. 40% of individuals with diabetes carry the Hp 2-2 gene. The researchers presented the results at the American Heart Meetings in Orlando, Florida, last month. The full study appeared in the November 21 on-line edition of the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology.

Most of the difference came from the reduced number of heart attacks among those taking vitamin E. In the group of 1,434 Hp 2-2 individuals taking part in the study, seven people had a heart attack, compared to 17 who did not take the vitamin. Andrew Levy, of the Technion Faculty of Medicine, said there were no side effects observed in patients who did take vitamin E.