And again: Vitamin E Supplementation has no Effect on All Cause Mortality

I suppose, only few of you will be surprised to read this: A very recent review by scientists from the University of Kentucky (Abner. 2011) confirmed the results of previous reviews of the available literature:

Based on the present meta-analysis, supplementation with vitamin E appears to have no effect on allcause mortality at doses up to  5,500 IU/d.

The scientists had compiled a selection of randomized, controlled trials published between 1988 and 2009 that investigated the treatment effect of vitamin E supplementation in adults for at least one year. What they got was a data pool comprising 246,371 subjects and 29,295 all-cause deaths with an overall risk ratio of 1.00 that was independent of whether or not the subjects received supplementary vitamin E.

On a side note: Instead of another review of the literature, I would have liked to see a study investigating the differential effects of the various forms of tocopherols and tocotrienols, of which I assume that the interaction / ratio between those is where the magic happens. So, if you happen to own a big laboratory and do not know what to do with it, I would certainly post the results of such a study ;-)