Dr. Mercola: "Although vitamin E has many uses it appears that cancer prevention is not one of them"

To be honest I was shocked by this statement of mr. Joseph Mercola a his latest newsletter at http://www.mercola.com.
Being most visited alternative health website in the world (alexa.com) is bathes in its own popularity. And his author, dr.Mercola, BAM, makes this statement, you can look at the newsletter http://www.mercola.com/2005/jul/21/aspirin_cancer.htm.

This is frightening, especially for those who are seaching, beginning to search for natural alternatives, who are in doubt. For us, hardcore healhnuts, we don't believe his statement one bit, do we? I don't. But implications could be far reaching: if a well known natural health expert (to some extent) is discouraging people from using vitamin E for cancer, many people could think "gee, maybe my MD telling vit.E was almost no good at all was right?" And then if a patient thinks this way what's the big deal for her or him to think that vitamin C is no good except maybe for scurvy? Do you see what it could to to everyday folks that are searching, in doubt? Dr. Mercola joins the company of elite of natural health authorities that misguide people, for example dr.Weil who says Liver Flush is nonsence.

Sometimes I think, in cases like with vitamin E, not to use internet (like mr. Mercla) is not such a good thing? If you are owner of the most visited alternative health website in the world isn't it your responsibility to dig out as much info about vitamin E as possible, let's say from pubmed.com and alike? You don't have a choice here because many people are depending on you, constantly searching info at your website and you are very well recognized in alternative health circles. Oh, by the way, and you are active practitioner as well.

Bottom line folks, dr.Mercola consciously or not- is lying. Thanks him for that.

1. Association between alpha-tocopherol, gamma-tocopherol, selenium, and subsequent prostate cancer.J Natl Cancer Inst 2000 Dec 20; 92(24): 2018-23. Helzlsouer KJ, Huang HY, Alberg AJ, Hoffman S, Burke A, Norkus EP, Morris JS, Comstock GW.
"...For gamma-tocopherol, men in the highest fifth of the distribution had a fivefold reduction in the risk of developing prostate cancer than men in the lowest fifth (P:(trend) =.002). The association between selenium and prostate cancer risk was in the protective direction with individuals in the top four fifths of the distribution having a reduced risk of prostate cancer compared with individuals in the bottom fifth (P(trend) =.27). Statistically significant protective associations for high levels of selenium and alpha-tocopherol were observed only when gamma-tocopherol concentrations were high. CONCLUSIONS: The use of combined alpha- and gamma- tocopherol supplements should be considered in upcoming prostate cancer prevention trials, given the observed interaction between alpha-tocopherol, gamma-tocopherol, and selenium."

2. Does lack of tocopherols and tocotrienols put women at increased risk of breast cancer?J Nutr Biochem 2002 Jan; 13(1): 2-20. Schwenke DC

"...In contrast, studies in Breast Cancer cells indicate that alpha- gamma-, and delta-tocotrienol, and to a lesser extent delta-tocopherol, have potent antiproliferative and proapoptotic effects that would be expected to reduce risk of breast cancer. Many vegetable sources of alpha-tocopherol also contain other tocopherols or tocotrienols. Thus, it seems plausible that the modest protection from Breast Cancer associated with dietary vitamin E may be due to the effects of the other tocopherols and the tocotrienols in the diet. Additional studies will be required to determine whether this may be the case, and to identify the most active tocopherol/tocotrienol."

3. Roum Arch Microbiol Immunol. 2003 Jul-Dec;62(3-4):239-50. Related Articles, Links. Effects of combined selenium and vitamin E administration on DNA in Walker tumor bearing Wistar rat exposed to cytostatic acute treatment.Mihalache D, Preoteasa V, Barca V.

"...These findings clearly show the organic Se salts and Vitamin E constitute a valuable adjuvant in anticancer medication, increasing the interest for the application of these antioxidants in cancer therapy and prevention."

4.J Neurochem. 2005 Jul 7; alpha-Tocopheryl succinate selectively induces apoptosis in neuroblastoma cells: potential therapy of malignancies of the nervous system? Swettenham E, Witting PK, Salvatore BA, Neuzil J.

"Abstract Vitamin E (VE) analogues, epitomized by alpha-tocopheryl succinate (alpha-TOS), are potent inducers of apoptosis and anti-cancer agents"
<...>
"We conclude that alpha-TOS is highly selective in killing malignant brain cancer cells while relatively inert toward differentiated neuronal cells, and that vitamin E analogues may be novel therapeutics for the treatment of tumours such as neuroblastomas."

5. Med Hypotheses. 2005;64(6):1170-2.Lysosomal and prostasomal hydrolytic enzymes and redox processes and initiation of prostate cancer. Tappel A.

"...This overall hypothesis suggests protection against prostate cancer by inhibitors of lipid peroxidation including the dietary antioxidants selenium, vitamin E and lycopene and also cysteine glutathione."

6.Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2004 Dec;1031:223-33. Tocopherols and the treatment of colon cancer. Stone WL, Krishnan K, Campbell SE, Qui M, Whaley SG, Yang H.

"Colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of cancer deaths in the United States. Vitamin E (VE) and other antioxidants may help prevent colon cancer by decreasing the formation of mutagens arising from the free radical oxidation of fecal lipids or by "non-antioxidant" mechanisms. VE is not a single molecule, but refers to at least eight different molecules, that is, four tocopherols and four tocotrienols. Methods: Both animal models and human colon cancer cell lines were used to evaluate the chemopreventive potential of different forms of VE. Rats were fed diets deficient in tocopherols or supplemented with either alpha-tocopherol or gamma-tocopherol. Half the rats in each of these groups received normal levels of dietary Fe and the other half Fe at eight times the normal level. In our cell experiments, we looked at the role of gamma-tocopherol in upregulating peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPAR-gamma) in the SW 480 human cell line. Results: Rats fed the diets supplemented with alpha-tocopherol had higher levels of VE in feces, colonocytes, plasma, and liver than did rats fed diets supplemented with gamma-tocopherol. Dietary Fe levels did not influence tocopherol levels in plasma, liver, or feces. For colonocytes, high dietary Fe decreased tocopherol levels. Rats fed the gamma-tocopherol-supplemented diets had lower levels of fecal lipid hydroperoxides than rats fed the alpha-tocopherol-supplemented diets. Ras-p21 levels were significantly lower in rats fed the gamma-tocopherol-supplemented diets compared with rats fed the alpha-tocopherol-supplemented diets. High levels of dietary Fe were found to promote oxidative stress in feces and colonocytes. Our data with the SW480 cells suggest that both alpha- and gamma-tocopherol upregulate PPAR-gamma mRNA and protein expression. gamma-tocopherol was, however, found to be a better enhancer of PPAR-gamma expression than alpha-tocopherol at the concentrations tested."

7. And so on (just use pubmed)















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