A new study conducted by researchers at Cornell University and Brigham and Women`s Hospital has suggested that long-term, regular use of vitamin E in women 45 years of age and older may help decrease the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by about 10 percent in both smokers and non-smokers.

`As lung disease develops, damage occurs to sensitive tissues through several proposed processes, including inflammation and damage from free radicals. Vitamin E may protect the lung against such damage," said Anne Hermetet Agler, doctoral candidate with Cornell University`s Division of Nutritional Sciences.

Agler and colleagues reviewed data compiled by the Women''s Health Study, a multi-year, long-term effort ending in 2004 that focused on the effects of aspirin and vitamin E in the prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer in nearly 40,000 women aged 45 years and older.

Study participants were randomized to receive either 600 mg of vitamin E or a placebo every other day during the course of the research.

Although fewer women taking vitamin E developed COPD, Agler noted the supplements appeared to have no effect on asthma, and women taking vitamin E supplements were diagnosed with asthma at about the same rate as women taking placebo pills.

Importantly, Agler noted the decreased risk of COPD in women who were given vitamin E was the same for smokers as for non-smokers.

Agler said further research will explore the way vitamin E affects the lung tissue and function, and will assess the effects of vitamin E supplements on lung diseases in men.

`If results of this study are borne out by further research, clinicians may recommend that women take vitamin E supplements to prevent COPD,` Agler said.

`Remember that vitamin E supplements are known to have detrimental effects in some people; for example vitamin E supplementation increased risk of congestive heart failure in cardiovascular disease patients. Broader recommendations would need to balance both benefits and risks,` Agler added.

Text courtesy: ANI