Are You Taking the Right Vitamin E for Your Heart?

Dear Health Conscious Reader,

I see a lot of reports and read a lot of studies on vitamin E. You may have, too.

Like the study where researchers gave athletes only 200 mg of vitamin E for only 21 days and concluded that vitamin E has no cardiopulmonary benefit.1

Or how about the group of researchers who looked at 11 high-dose vitamin E studies and concluded that the more vitamin E you take, the greater your risk of dying?2

Another you may have heard of is the lung cancer study where researchers found multivitamins, vitamins C, E and folate don’t reduce lung cancer risk. But that vitamin E may increase your risk.3

If you conclude from this that researchers are out to get vitamin E, I wouldn’t blame you.

I’ve also heard various interpretations and misinterpretations of these studies. You might have seen them on the six o’clock news and in your newspaper. Vitamin E has been found to be worthless… vitamin E has not reduced the risk of cancer…

I see these things on TV, too, so I looked a little bit deeper…

What all those scientists aren’t telling you is that their results are mostly taken from a test tube. They’re generally not testing the effects in people who take vitamin E. And even if they are, these studies only test a synthetic and unnatural form of vitamin E, the dl-alpha tocopherol.

But the story is a little more complicated, and a whole lot more interesting. There are actually eight forms of vitamin E: four tocopherols and four tocotrienols. They’re all antioxidants, and each has its own unique health properties.

The problem is, not only is dl-alpha tocopherol not natural when you take it in that form, it’s also the tocopherol with the least heart benefit. And, when

you take too much of it, you cause a decreased absorption of gamma-tocopherol. Gamma has been shown to have a lot of benefit for your heart and blood vessels.

Not only that, but tocotrienols have benefits that tocopherols don’t have. And you can’t get any of them from synthetic vitamin E.

Tocotrienols help:

  • Maintain cholesterol in its healthy form
  • Keep triglycerides at a healthy level
  • Support normal blood pressure levels

Tocotrienols also have two advantages over tocopherols. They move fast, and penetrate the fatty outer layer of a cell membrane and “attack” a cholesterol-creating enzyme called HMG-CoA.4 This helps reduce cholesterol oxidation and helps promote normal cholesterol levels.

Tocotrienols also work in your blood in other ways. A new study by researchers looking to help people’s brains shows that tocotrienols in natural vitamin E supplements build up inside the blood to help support brain health.5

What this means for you is that you need this important form of vitamin E to support normal, natural heart and blood function.

So, how do you get heart-healthy vitamin E that contains tocotrienols?

You can find high concentrations of tocotrienols in oils like palm, coconut and wheat germ. You should be able to pick these up at a health food store or specialty grocer. Keep in mind that soybean oil and sunflower oil have NO tocotrienols.

Personally, my favorite oil is annatto. I first encountered it in the Andes Mountains. After you ascend the Andes from the east and start down into the Amazon basin, annatto grows in the foothills before you get to the dense rainforest.

The natives there recognize annatto as a powerful health tonic, and even use it as a dye. This is because annatto has compounds with a unique reddish-orange color that are chemically similar to beta-carotene – which gives carrots their color.

So, it’s not surprising that beta-carotene-filled foods like cranberries and carrots have tocotrienols, too.

Almonds, walnuts and sunflower seeds also are great sources of tocotrienols.

But chances are, you’re not eating enough nuts, fruit and seeds every day to get the forms of vitamin E your body needs.

My research team and I decided to make it easier for you to take care of your heart. We included tocotrienols in our most-talked-about formula, Accel.

Now you can get unparalleled heart support.

Not only does Accel have the ubiquinol form of CoQ10 – a heart powerhouse all on its own – but it also has the power of tocotrienols.

Plus, there’s one more thing. Combining this ubiquinol form of CoQ10 with tocotrienols keeps the tocotrienols active in your system for a longer period than just taking them alone. So the benefits to your heart are that much greater.

I recommend most of my patients take Accel. And I never skip a day either.

Try Accel and get a boost of tocotrienols now.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

  1. Patil, S.M., Chaudhuri, D., Dhanakshirur, G.B., “Role of alpha-tocopherol in cardiopulmonary fitness in endurance athletes, cyclists,” Indian J Physiol Pharmacol. 2009 Oct-Dec; 53(4):375-9
  2. Miller, Edgar R. III, MD, PhD, et al, “Meta-Analysis: High-Dosage Vitamin E Supplementation May Increase
    All-Cause Mortality,” Ann Intern Med. 2005; 142:37-46
  3. Slatore, Christopher G., Littman, Alyson J., Au, David H., et al, “Long-Term Use of Supplemental Multivitamins, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and Folate Does Not Reduce the Risk of Lung Cancer,” American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 2008; Vol 177, pp. 524-530
  4. Schaffer, Sebastian, Müller, Walter E. and Eckert, Gunter P., “Tocotrienols: Constitutional Effects in Aging and Disease,” J. Nutr. 2005; 135:151-154
  5. Khanna, Savita, Parinandi, Narasimham L., Kotha, Sainath R., et al, “Nanomolar vitamin E α-tocotrienol inhibits glutamate-induced activation of phospholipase A2 and causes neuroprotection,” Journal of Neurochemistry March 2010; Volume 112, Issue 5, pages 1249–1260