Studies involving nearly 136,000 people found that the risk of death increased in accordance with the dose of vitamin E taken. Increased risk, researchers said, began with as small a dose as is found in a single vitamin E capsule. As such, they have recommended that current guidelines for what is considered a safe maximum daily intake be lowered.

"A lot of people take vitamins because they believe it will benefit their health in the long term and prolong life," said Edgar R. Miller III, an associate professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who led the research.

"But our study shows that use of high-dose vitamin E supplements certainly did not prolong life but was associated with a higher risk of death."

The vitamin E study was presented at an American Heart Association meeting in New Orleans this week. As reported in the study did not examine how vitamin E might have such an effect.

". . . other studies have suggested that the substance may boost the danger of heart attacks and strokes, perhaps by affecting blood clotting or blocking the beneficial effects of other nutrients. Whatever the mechanism, the findings indicate that no one should take high doses of vitamin E regularly."

Local nutritionists, however, insist small doses of the vitamin could still be beneficial ? that only when the supplement is abused is there cause for concern.

"If you have a balanced diet, you really get all that you need," said Government's Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Cann.

"Granted, it may be difficult to get a truly balanced diet unless you have access to fresh vegetables and fruits and all the things you need, but before you decide to take extra medications or vitamins or any entity, you really should check with someone who has a little more knowledge about it.

"I would caution people that they're not saying vitamin E is bad for you. They're saying mega-doses are bad for you. I think everybody thought it was fine to have something like a daily vitamin.

"For specific purposes (nutritionists) may have suggested you take additional amounts (but) as there's additional knowledge, ideas and suggestions do have to change. One should always ? as best you can ? look at the reasons why people suggest additional amounts of a vitamin or anything else and look to see that that's been done by reputable agencies and has been fully endorsed although I admit, that may be a little difficult for the average person."

Janet Burull of Nutrition Consultant Services agreed.

"I do know that there have been thousands of studies over the years that to this date have proven vitamin E to be safe, and in some cases beneficial for certain diseases, but as we nutritionists say, 'nothing beats a healthy, well-balanced diet'."

The registered dietician said that people needed to give "more respect" to the Recommended Daily Allowances, listed on the back of every nutritional supplement.

"They are established by a team of experts who review huge amounts of nutrition data but people are still so easily convinced that more is better," she said.

As reported in the :

Americans spent $710 million on vitamin E last year, making it the most popular supplement behind vitamin C.

The vitamin E findings looked at data collected through 19 studies. Conducted between 1993 and 2004, it involved a total of 135,967 patients in North America, Europe and China and found that people who had been taking at least 400 international units daily for at least five years, faced a five per cent increased risk of death.

No increased risk was seen at lower dosages.

On average, people get about ten international units of vitamin E from diet, primarily from foods such as corn, nuts, seeds, olives, spinach, asparagus and other green leafy vegetables and vegetable oils.

Multivitamin pills usually contain 30 to 60 international units of vitamin E. But vitamin E supplement capsules contain anywhere from about 400 to 800 international units.

At present, nutritional guidelines in the United States do not recommend vitamin E supplementation, but state that doses as high as 1,000 international units per day are safe.