Researchers from Cornell University and Brigham and Women's Hospital presented research findings at the American Thoracic Society International Conference in New Orleans that showed that vitamin E supplementation could help reduce the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by about 10%. They went on to say that vitamin E could be part of a new preventive strategy for women at risk of COPD.

COPD causes chronic coughing, excess mucus production, wheezing, shortness of breath, tightness of the chest and other symptoms. The most common cause is smoking, but it also occurs in non-smokers.

For the study, the researchers looked at 38,270 female health professionals from the Women’s Health Study. The Women’s Health Study was a double-blind, placebo-controlled, two-by-two factorial trial of vitamin E (600 IU every-other day) and aspirin (100 mg every-other day) in female health professionals aged 45 years or older who were followed for 10 years. None of the women had COPD or any chronic lung disease at the beginning of the trial. At the end of the study, 760 women in the Vitamin E group had developed COPD, while 846 in the placebo group developed the disease. The researchers point to several strengths of this study; the randomized design and large trial size add validity to the findings and their conclusion that "supplementation with vitamin E reduced the risk of new diagnosis of chronic lung disease, indicating a possible preventive strategy."

Previous studies have tied vitamin E to improved lung health, including reduced risk of certain types of lung cancers, and to reduced lung damage while exercising in areas with air pollution.

Vitamin E is very different from many other vitamins in that there are eight different forms: four tocopherols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta) and four tocotrienols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta). American diets tend to be highest in the gamma-tocopherol form of the vitamin, while supplements tend to focus on the alpha-tocopherol form of the vitamin. Alpha-tocopherol seems to be the most biologically active and is also the form on which the most research has been conducted.

1. Agler, A. H., T. Kurth, M.D., J.M. Gaziano, MD, J.E. Buring, PhD, P.A. Cassano, PhD (2010). "Randomized Vitamin E Supplementation and Risk of Chronic Lung Disease (CLD) in the Women's Health Study." Am J Respir Crit Care Med 181(Meeting Abstracts).