Vitamin E is Hot!

Food experts have started to sing the praises of - can you believe it? - mayonnaise and margarine.

The reason is vitamin E, the hot nutrient of the moment. A pile of medical evidence, including a large study in today's New England Journal of Medicine, suggests this vitamin protects people from heart disease.

It turns out the top source of vitamin E in the American diet is margarine. No. 2 is mayonnaise.
These are high-fat foods, and for years the leading message about eating and health has been a simple one: Cut out fat and cholesterol. "One of the unfortunate parts of the fat phobia is that people eliminate major sources of vitamin E in their diets," said Dr. Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health.

The newest piece of evidence is a study showing that women who get lots of vitamin E-rich food cut their chance of heart disease by almost two-thirds. Last month, British researchers reported that daily vitamin E pills seem to reduce heart attacks by 75 percent when taken by people with bad hearts.

The latest study looks at the effect of vitamin E in food alone.

Dr. Lawrence Kushi, an epidemiologist from the University of Minnesota, followed 34,486 postmenopausal women with no outward signs of heart trouble. During seven years of follow-up, 242 died of heart disease.

Diet seemed to play a big role. Women who consumed the most vitamin E in their food were 62 percent less likely than those who ate the least to die of coronary heart disease.

Those in the highest consumption group got at least 10 international units of vitamin E per day from food, which is the recommended daily allowance for women. Of course, too much high-fat food of any kind is not a good idea, and Kushi noted that the women who benefited didn't overdo it. For instance, mayonnaise consumption was considered to be too high if the women ate it four times a week.

Besides mayo, other good sources of vitamin E include margarine (especially if made from sunflower, safflower, canola or corn oil), salad dressings, vegetable oil, peanut butter, nuts, wheat germ and eggs.

The Minnesota study found Vitamin E supplements did not appear to reduce the risk, although the researchers cautioned that they did not know enough about how long the women had taken the pills to be sure of this finding.

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