Findings from a new study suggest that vitamin E is not useful in preventing heart attack or stroke.

The authors warn that the use of unproven agents with over-the-counter availability, like vitamin E, can lead to the under-use of agents with proven benefits and to failure to practice a healthy lifestyle.

The findings, which appear in the Archives of Internal Medicine, are based on an analysis of data from seven large studies that looked at vitamin E’s ability to treat or prevent heart disease and stroke.

In six of the trials, vitamin E had no effect on cardiovascular disease, senior author Dr. Charles H. Hennekens, from the Agatston Research Institute in Miami Beach, Florida, and colleagues note.

In a combined analysis, vitamin E use did not affect the risk of any important cardiovascular event. In particular, such use did not decrease (or increase) the risk or heart attack, stroke, or death related to these causes.

The results “provide strong support that vitamin E supplementation has no statistically significant or clinically important effects on cardiovascular disease,” the authors conclude.

SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, July 26, 2004.