Vitamin E is good for the heart, researcher says

• VITAMINS and antioxidants are fast becoming widely accepted as anti-ageing nutrients and the market for anti-ageing formulations is growing at 7.6 per cent annually.
• "There is overwhelming evidence that Vitamin E decreases the risk of heart diseases," says Dr Lester Packer, the world's foremost antioxidant research scientist.
• His area of expertise includes antioxidants, free radicals and topical application of antioxidants on skin.
• Free radicals are involved in both the onset and the progression of heart disease.
• The damage to the heart muscle is due to a burst of free radicals after the flood flow resumes," says Packer who is currently director of Packer Lab and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Nu Skin and Pharmanex.
• He has also published over 800 scientific papers and more than 100 books on antioxidants and health as well as a book, The AntiOxidant Miracle --- his first book for non-scientists.
• They have a unique role in preventing and treating conditions such as atherosclerosis, high cholesterol levels and even some cancers.
• The cause of heart disease means a failure of the body's antioxidant network to do its job.
• Thus bolstering Vitamin E and the entire antioxidant network has a profound effect on our ability to stave off heart diseases.
• "This was because the south's Mediterranean diet includes high amounts of Vitamin E-rich foods such as olive oil and and an assortment of fruit and vegetables," says Packer.
• "Antioxidants regenerate each other and work in coordination.
• Some antioxidants, although metabolically connected with the other antioxidants like the carotenoids (natural pigments found in fruit and vegetables) --- don't operate the same way.
• "It is better to take a multivitamin supplement with all the antioxidant and antioxidant enzymes.