Unsaturated Fat and Vitamin E: Two Weapons Against Parkinson Disease

By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, July 12, 2005, abstracted from “Dietary fatty acids and the risk of Parkinson disease: The Rotterdam Study�?in the June 28, 2005 issue of Neurology

First described in 1817, Parkinson disease (PD) is a movement disorder caused by the body’s inability to no longer produce dopamine, a brain neurotransmitter. As a result, the brain can no longer control body movement, resulting in the tremors and shaking that characterizes PD. This disorder affects more than one million people in the United States and because it is more common in older persons, it is feared there will be a sharp increase over the next decade as the baby boom generation ages.(1)

Conventional treatments for PD include prescription medications that mimic dopamine and surgery (but only as a last resort).(2) Although there is no cure for Parkinson’s disease, preventive methods are surfacing, particularly in the area of nutrition. Two nutritional supplements showing a lot of promise recently have been fatty acids and vitamin E .

High intakes of unsaturated fat appear to have a variety of health benefits, including decreasing inflammation(3) and protecting nerves in the body,(4) reducing oxidative stress,(5) and improving brain function, particularly the area of the brain that deteriorates in PD.(6)

Now, a new study,(7) which examined the association between unsaturated fat intake and the risk of PD among 5,289 patients, found both monounsaturated fatty acids (olive oil) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3 fatty acids) to be “significantly associated�?with a lower risk of PD. No associations were found for dietary saturated fat, cholesterol, or trans-fat.

Vitamin E came under attack in early 2005 when it was proposed that “Those who take greater than 400 IU of vitamin E a day are about 10 percent more likely to die than those who do not�?(7) This statement was quickly refuted(8) while another study found that vitamin E protects women against fatal heart attacks.(9)

Now, a new study(10) which conducted a review of 8 different studies examining vitamin E intake and PD found that “diets rich in vitamin E protect against the development of PD.�?/FONT>

For Parkinson's, Vitamin E from Food May Be Better

In pill form, antioxidants may not do much to prevent Parkinson's disease, new research indicates, but at least one shows promise when eaten in food.

When researchers at Harvard School of Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Harvard Medical School analyzed the food frequency questionnaires and supplement records of more than 100,000 participants in an ongoing health study, they discovered that getting large amounts of antioxidants from pills, even when combined with food sources, didn't help prevent Parkinson's disease. However, those who had higher intakes of vitamin E from food sources, particularly nuts, had a thirty-two percent lower risk of Parkinson's than those who consumed the least amount.

It may be that there is some component in vitamin E-rich foods other than vitamin E that prevents degeneration, the researchers said. Another theory is that consuming adequate amounts of antioxidants from an early age protects against disease. People usually don't begin taking vitamin E supplements until they are older.

from Earth Star Magazine, March 03

Largest Vitamin E Trial

 Shows Reduced Risk Of Cardiovascular Death In Women

Results from the largest ever trial on vitamin E supplementation - almost 40,000 American women participated - appear to confirm previous research showing that women taking the high dose natural alpha-tocopherol supplements had a significantly lower risk of death and also a much lower risk of heart attack and stroke if they were over the age of 65, according to the major trial out today.

Researchers on the study, published in the 6 July issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (vol 294, no1), say these findings should be investigated further.

No adverse effects were reported during the 10-year study, the longest trial period for vitamin E supplements to date.

The Harvard Medical School team writes that there were no differences between reported adverse effects among women taking vitamin E or placebo, apart from a small increase in the risk of epistaxis (nosebleeds).

The authors of the Women’s Health Study, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial that also looked at the effects of low-dose aspirin, noted that many previous trials on vitamin E 'have been conducted primarily among participants with cardiovascular risk factors and/or CVD or at high risk of cancer�?

Many were also limited to five years. Their trial was designed to investigate a potential benefit from vitamin E over a longer time period and in healthy people.

Dr Andrew Shao, vice president of regulatory and scientific affairs at the US trade association Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), welcomed the data from a healthy population, noting that previous studies of vitamin E had examined unhealthy populations and then incorrectly used the results to reach conclusions about the safety of vitamin E in healthy individuals.

“The WHS should help dispel some of the dubious myths surrounding vitamin E. We hope these results will inspire other researchers to continue to study vitamin E and its potentially beneficial effects,�?he said.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among women in all European countries, and in men in all of Europe apart from France. It causes nearly half (49 per cent) of all deaths in Europe, or 4.35 million each year, according to the European Heart Network. The study found a 24 per cent reduction in cardiovascular deaths among the nearly 20,000 women who took vitamin E supplements compared with the nearly 20,000 women taking placebo.

For women 65 and over, taking vitamin E supplements had an even greater positive effect, reducing cardiovascular death by 49 per cent.

Professor Maret Traber, a principal investigator at the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University and a leading expert on vitamin E, said: “Vitamin E has clear value in helping to reduce the risk of heart and other serious degenerative diseases. This is especially important for people who smoke, have high blood pressure, or who don’t eat properly, habits which can leave them with inadequate levels of this essential vitamin.�?

Results from a long-term study investigating the benefits of vitamin E in men - the Physician's Health Study - are not due until 2008 but they will offer further data to clarify today's results.

The Women's Health study also showed that 100mg of aspirin on alternate days reduced the risk of stroke overall in the women studied and the risk of both stroke and heart attack in those aged 65 and older

Dear Reader, Over the past couple of years, a handful of ridiculously flawed studies have found vitamin E supplements to be ineffective and even (brace yourself!) dangerous. The result: public perception of the vitamin has taken a beating.

Obviously it's time for an extreme makeover - vitamin E edition.

One bad study

Earlier this month, the American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS) annual meeting featured a symposium in which several prominent scientists defended the honor of vitamin E.

It's too bad that a nutrient with such a large body of evidence proving its usefulness would even need defending. But in the wake of a recent ABC Evening News report that highlighted a couple of negative vitamin E studies and completely ignored the scores of positive studies, public perception of the vitamin is at an all-time low. According to NutraIngredients, the two leading suppliers of vitamin E in the U.S. report that sales of the vitamin have dropped off about 40 percent.

Most of vitamin E's image problem can be traced to one bad study: the now infamous Johns Hopkins research that appeared in the Annals of Internal Medicine about a year and a half ago. As noted at the AOCS symposium, the Hopkins team conducted a meta-analysis of 19 vitamin E studies and concluded that more than 400 IU per day may slightly increase the risk of death.

Which is absolutely preposterous.

Commenting on the study in the e-Alert "The Purest Bunk" (11/15/04), HSI Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D., noted that the Hopkins conclusion "flies in the face of decades of research, using doses up to 2,400 IU." And a representative for the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) added that it was inappropriate for the researchers to draw conclusions for the entire population based on studies of subjects who were "already at grave risk with existing diseases including cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and kidney failure."

But never mind these glaring flaws - the mainstream media certainly didn't mind them! The AOCS moderator, University of Arizona professor Ronald Watson, Ph.D., specifically cited "poor journalism" as a key factor in discouraging consumers "from taking advantage of this beneficial nutrient."

Form & function

This can't be said often enough: When vitamin E is evaluated, the form of the vitamin is crucial. Too often we've seen vitamin E intervention studies (including some in the Hopkins research) that used a synthetic form or an inferior form of the vitamin. Dr. Spreen: "No one should be taking the synthetic form of the nutrient (dl-alpha tocopherol) - it should be d-alpha tocopherol at least. Even better is to take 'mixed' tocopherols (alpha, beta, delta, gamma). Also, vitamin E functions better when it's mixed with selenium."

It's SO SIMPLE! As with all vitamins, there are different forms. Use the wrong form and you get poor results. Use the proper form and you get good results.

Back on track

Let's complete vitamin E's makeover by addressing an e-mail I recently received from an HSI member named J.L.: "Is there any truth to a recent article about anyone taking 50 IUs of vitamin E is at greater risk for a stroke?"

J.L. didn't include specific information from the article, and I haven't been able to pinpoint any studies with those results, so we'll have to assume that the study in question either: A) examined subjects already at risk of a stroke, and/or B) used an ineffective or synthetic form of the vitamin.

Of course, we should never "assume," so let's go back a few years to a time when vitamin E still looked pretty spiffy.

In a 1993 Harvard study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers examined eight years of medical records for more than 87,000 women between the ages of 34 and 59. At the outset of the study, none of the subjects had been diagnosed with either cardiovascular disease or cancer.

The results: Women who took vitamin E supplements (at least 100 IU daily) for two years or more reduced their heart disease risk by more than 40 percent compared to women who didn't take E supplements. And in this same group, risk of ischemic stroke was reduced by nearly 30 percent. In the lowest-risk group, the average intake was 200 IU per day.

There's your makeover, Vitamin E. In spite of all the undeserved hits you've been taking, you look MAHvelous!

To Your Good Health, Jenny Thompson

Sources:

"Vitamin E Symposium Reacts to Negative Press" NutraIngredients USA, 5/12/06, nutraingredients-usa.com

"Deep-Fried Candy Bars: Scotland's Worst Food?" James Owen, National Geographic News, 12/28/04, news.nationalgeographic.com

Copyright (c)1997-2006 by www.hsibaltimore.com, L.L.C. The e-Alert may not be posted on commercial sites without written permission.

May 22, 2006

Scientists turn vitamin E into super cancer killer

A report published in the April 28 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry detailed the discovery of researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. James Center Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute that slightly modifying alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) succinate makes its cancer killing ability five to ten times greater than that of the vitamin in its normal state. Vitamin E succinate has already been shown to induce programmed cell death in cancer cells, but researchers had been unaware of how it causes this to occur.

Professor of pharmacy and internal medicine Ching-Shih Chen and his colleagues discovered that vitamin E succinate fights cancer by blocking Bcl-xL, a protein made by healthy cells that is frequently elevated in cancer cells and protects them from dying. They found that vitamin E succinate disables Bcl-xL by lodging in groove in its structure; however, the long tail of the vitamin keeps it from fitting tightly and working more effectively.

“Once we identified how the agent and the protein interact, we asked how we could improve that interaction,�?Dr Chen stated. His team found that by shortening the vitamin E molecule's tail, its cancer-destroying activity in prostate cancer cell cultures increased five to tenfold.

"Our findings could lead to a potent chemopreventive agent that has both strong anticancer and antioxidant properties,�?Dr Chen speculated. “Such an agent might help reduce the risk of prostate, colon and other cancers.�?

“Overall, out findings are proof of the principle that this drug can kill cancer cells very effectively but does very little damage to healthy cells,�?he concluded.

—D Dye

From:   http://www.lef.org/whatshot/index.html#rlff

Abstract:

 
Lower Plasma Vitamin E Levels Are Associated With the Frailty Syndrome:
The InCHIANTI Study

prohealthnetwork.com

J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2006 Mar;61(3):278-83.

Ble A, Cherubini A, Volpato S, Bartali B, Walston JD, Windham BG, Bandinelli S, Lauretani F, Guralnik JM, Ferrucci L.

National Institute on Aging, NIA, Harbor Hospital, 5th Floor, 3001 S. Hanover St., Baltimore, MD 21225. [email protected].

Background. The primary biologic mechanism that causes frailty in older persons has never been adequately explained. According to recent views, oxidative stress may be the driving force of this condition. We tested the hypothesis that, independent of confounders, low plasma levels of vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol), the main fat-soluble human antioxidant, are associated with the frailty syndrome in older persons free from dementia and disability.

Methods. The study sample included 827 older (>/=65 years) persons (women, 54%) who participated in a population-based epidemiological study. Frail participants were identified based on the presence of at least three of five of the following features: self-reported weight loss, low energy, slow gait speed, low grip strength, and low physical activity. Participants with none of these features were considered nonfrail, while participants with one or two were considered intermediate frail.

Plasma vitamin E levels were determined using reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Measured confounders included lower extremity muscle strength, cognitive function, diseases, and factors related to vitamin E metabolism. Results. Age- and gender-adjusted levels of vitamin E decreased gradually from the nonfrail to the frail group (p for trend =.015).

In the logistic model adjusted for multiple potential confounders, participants in the highest vitamin E tertile were less likely to be frail than were participants in the lowest vitamin E tertile (odds ratio, 0.30; 95% confidence interval, 0.10-0.91).

Conclusions. Our findings show an association between low circulating levels of one of the most important components of the human antioxidant system and the presence of frailty.

PMID: 16567378 [PubMed - in process]