Does vitamin E cause congestive heart failure?(Literature Review & Commentary)

Some 3,994 patients aged 55 years or older with vascular disease or diabetes were randomly assigned to receive, in double-blind fashion, 400 IU/day of vitamin E (RRR-alpha-tocopheryl acetate) or placebo for a median of 7.0 years. The incidence of heart failure was 19% higher (14.7% vs. 12.6%; p = 0.007) and the incidence of hospitalization for heart failure was 40% higher (5.8% vs. 4.2%; p = 0.002) in the vitamin E group than in the placebo group. Cardiovascular mortality did not differ significantly between groups. The authors concluded that, in patients with vascular disease or diabetes, long-term supplementation with 400 IU/day of vitamin E may increase the risk for heart failure.

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Comment: Virtually all of the clinical research on vitamin E has used alpha-tocopherol, which is only one of the four forms of vitamin E that occur naturally in food (alpha-, beta-, gamma-, and delta-tocopherol). …