Vitamin E Cuts Pneumonia Risk in Some Older Men Depending on Their Lifestyle

In older men who exercised and had least exposure to smoking intake of vitamin E supplements decreased pneumonia risk.

Highlights

Effect of vitamin E on pneumonia studied
Vitamin E prevents pneumonia risk in elderly men who exercised and are non-smokers
Vitamin E didn’t have any effect on elderly men who smoked heavily and had not been exercising.

Intake of vitamin E supplements increases the risk of pneumonia for more than one in four older men (28%) who smoked and did not exercise, finds study published in the British Journal of Nutrition. However, the opposite effect was true for older men who exercised and did not smoke - in that vitamin E actually decreased their risk of contracting pneumonia.

The findings of the study focussed on men aged 50 to 69 years old at the baseline of the Alpha-Tocopherol Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study - ATBC trial conducted in Finland between 1985 and 1993. There were 898 cases of pneumonia among 29,133 participants of the study.

Vitamin E - Recommended Intake, Food Sources, Benefits, Health Risks
Vitamin E is a fat soluble vitamin with antioxidant properties. Naturally found in some foods and also as a dietary supplement, Vitamin E deficiency is rare condition.

‘Vitamin E decreases pneumonia risk in older men aged 50 to 69 years who exercised and had least exposure to smoking.’

Dr. Harri Hemilä of the University of Helsinki, Finland - discovered that vitamin E effect on health outcomes may depend on various characteristics of people and their lifestyles. Dr. Hemilä concluded that nearly all variation in the vitamin E effect on pneumonia risk over five subgroups was explained by true differences in the vitamin E effect rather than by chance variation.

Study Results

Vitamin E increased risk of pneumonia by 68% among older men who smoked heavily and who did not exercise.

Pneumonia - Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment, Prevention, Complications
Pneumonia is a lung infection that can be caused by a bacteria or a virus. It causes inflammation of the alveoli or the air sacs of the lungs.

Vitamin E decreased pneumonia risk by 69% among older men who had least exposure to smoking and exercised.

The high level of true heterogeneity in the vitamin E effect on pneumonia has important implications:

Quiz on Pneumonia
Pneumonia is a serious respiratory tract infection that is often life-threatening in the elderly, children or those with reduced immunity. See how much you know about pneumonia by taking this quiz.

First, it provides a strong argument against the opinion that subgroup analyses of randomised trials should be strongly discouraged because they can lead to false positive findings due to the multiple comparison problem.

Second, the average effects of vitamin E that are calculated in meta-analyses may not be valid for many population groups.

Higher Dietary Vitamin E Is Required for Obese People
Vitamin E is a fat soluble micronutrient and, should be available at increased levels in people who are overweight and eat large amounts of fatty foods.

Third, in cohort studies, confounders are adjusted to allow the calculation of a single estimate of effect over the study population.

The lead author suggests that vitamin E should not be suggested for the general population for improving the immune system.

There is a need for further research on vitamin E for non-smoking elderly men who exercise in their leisure time.

Source-Medindia