We ask a lot of questions about our diet.

What's the right way to treat a chronic illness, fight off a virus, lose weight?

The problem is we get a lot of different answers.

Well, I'm here to help.

Welcome to the Nutrition Facts podcast.

I'm your host, Dr. Michael Greger.

Did you know that if you buy vitamin E supplements, you may in fact

be paying to live a shorter life? Here's our first story. Randomized control trials show that daily

vitamin D supplementation appears to reduce the risk of acute respiratory infections in children

and adolescents, but does not

seem to make a difference in adults, nor does D appear effective for boosting antibody responses

to influenza vaccination.

What about vitamin E?

Most places, you read that there are eight different tocopherols and tocotrinols that

are collectively known as vitamin E, but only alpha

tocopherol has been shown to protect against human vitamin E deficiency. So alpha

tocoferol is the only bona fide vitamin E and is the one found in vitamin E supplements.

There are observational data suggesting those self-reporting supplementation with vitamin E have,

for example, better pneumonia outcomes, but only interventional trials can prove if this is the case.

Compared to placebo supplements, vitamin E was able to significantly boost immunity to hepatitis

B and tetanus vaccinations, though not to diphtheria

or pneumonia.

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