Vitamin E has been largely discredited as a "miracle" vitamin – but a major new study suggests some groups of men may benefit from taking it.
Men over the age of 71 could benefit significantly, according to the Finnish study.
And light smokers may also benefit from taking vitamin E together with a diet high in vitamin C, they say.
The findings come from an analysis of more than 10,000 over-65-year-olds who took part in an eight year study ending in 1993.
The researchers say those over 71 seemed to benefit from a 24 per cent reduction in death rates from taking vitamin E.
Some 2,284 men were found to be smoking less than one pack of cigarettes a day and consuming a greater than average amount of vitamin C in their diet. These seemed to benefit from a two-year extension to their lives, according to the analysis published in the journal Age and Ageing.
Researchers Dr Harri Hemila and Professor Jaakko Kaprio, of the University of Helsinki, Finland, write: "If vitamin E influences the life-span, it is possible that a benefit on the oldest participants might be camouflaged by the large middle-aged majority of study participants."
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