Vitamin E important for early prevention of cardiovascular disease in middle-aged women.(Brief Article)

2002 SEP 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Atherosclerosis may signal the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD) early in life, perhaps decades before any explicit clinical diagnosis of CVD is made.

Adequate intakes of antioxidant vitamins are known to protect against plaque formation, and yet most research into the effects of these vitamins has focused on subjects who already had overt signs of heart disease such as myocardial infarction, angina, stroke or heart attack.

Healthy middle-aged women without overt CVD were the focus of a new study by Iannuzzi et al. published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. In examining the relationship between the women's antioxidant vitamin consumption and the presence of plaques in the common carotid arteries, the authors concluded that low vitamin E intake is a risk factor for early atherosclerosis.

The 307 southern Italian women subjects of the study averaged 56 years of age, had no clinical history of CVD, and did not take vitamin supplements containing the antioxidants vitamins A, C, or E. Their average daily intakes and plasma concentrations of antioxidants were determined through food frequency questionnaires and blood samples. In addition, ultrasound examinations of the carotid arteries and ...