Vitamin E reduces risk of flu in older people, especially ex-smokers

The benefits have been seen among elderly men who have recently quit smoking; the vitamin may have similar protective effects among non-smokers, although researchers from the University of Helsinki say they have no evidence for that just yet.

The supplement had the most protective effect among the men who had started to smoke later in life; it didn’t seem to have any benefits in men who started smoking before they were 21.

The average reduction in pneumonia risk was 72 per cent among the 7,469 men who had all quit smoking, the researchers found.

Now the researchers want to study the impact of the vitamin on non-smokers.

(Source: Clinical Interventions in Aging, 2016; vol 11: 1379)

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