Mega Vitamin E: Is It Safe

The enormous consumption of vitamin E by health-conscious Americans continues to escalate. This phenomenon represents both an act of faith and seduction by authority. Physicians and nutritionists who preach the virtues of large doses of vitamin E for treatment and prevention emphasize the virtual absence of harmful side effects. Highly publicized reports of the purported value of vitamin E in preventing coronary heart disease and dementia have caused sales to skyrocket.For a quarter century, H.J. Roberts, M.D. has described many clinical problems attributable to excessive vitamin E. Unfortunately, his warnings continue to be overlooked, ignored or suppressed by health professionals, researchers and the wellness press as the list of alleged indications lengthens.Dr. Roberts presents the fruits of his extensive clinical observations and the pertinent researches by other investigators with a minimum of medicalese. He discusses the nebulous concept of free radicals that is often used to justify taking vitamin E as an antioxidant.Dr. Roberts also elaborates upon the significant biological effects of vitamin E, the flawed protocols and omissions in many studies cited for promotional purposes, the failure of physicians to ask patients who present with serious problems (for example, thrombophlebitis; hypertension; breast tumors) about vitamin E intake, and the widespread denial or trivialization of such problems.