. PLEASE NOTE: This review is under serious ATTACK by people with an ax to grind, perhaps in an attempt to bury the truth or promote the product (There seem to be more devious PR campaigns on Amazon these days). If you find this review helpful, please vote for it to keep it on the first page. If you want to review the debate (including our references) please see the 30 comments (yes, 30 ). Mark Twain said it well: "A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." If you read the comments you will likely conclude that the unwarranted ATTACKS on our review read like a textbook listing of fallacious arguments: emotional ad hominem attacks, red-herrings, misdirection, misinformation, ambiguous assertions, needling, unsupported testimonials, anonymous authorities, etc. etc. To be clear we have no dog in this fight, no financial motivation, our only motivation is to stop bullies from spreading misinformation. As a result, we are at times slow to respond to attacks. But if you read the 30 (yes, 30 ) exchanges we believe that the truth will be clear. After reading all the ATTACKS, read our report again. It's evidence based. Check out the sources yourself to verify and check for updates. However, given the number of choices we have, our limited resources, and the economic incentives that many have to promote largely unregulated, but highly profitable products, it would be a "fools errand" to proceed without some objective evidence. Aside from wasting resources there are plenty of documented cases of harm being done. However, there clearly are those who want you to make your buying decisions based on anonymous, anecdotal testimonies of sources with unproven motivations. Obviously it's your choice.... we've made ours. And, yes, we have spent a bit of time writing this review (we did the research for ourselves and decided to share). We've also spent time responding to these ATTACKS because we've never liked bullies. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our family takes a range of supplements, eats as healthy as possible and strives to get regular fun and functional exercise. We're currently in the midst of a nutritional review to determine how best to invest in our health. We take a number of Now Foods supplements (two of our favorites are their time release vitamin C and maca). In reviewing this product and vitamin E supplementation in general here's what we found: ---------------- NOW FOODS ADVANCED GAMMA E COMPLEX (from Now Foods website for this product): Serving Size: 2 Softgels Servings Per Container: 60 Amount Per Serving / % Daily Value* Calories = 10 Calories from Fat = 7 Total Fat = 0.8 g / 2% Vitamin E (as Natural d-alpha Tocopherol) = 400 IU Natural Mixed Tocopherols = 400 mg Tocomin® Mixed Palm Tocotrienol Complex = 10 mg * Percent Daily Values are based on 2,000 calorie diet. Daily Value not established. Other Ingredients: Softgel Capsule (gelatin, glycerin, water, carob), Rice Bran Oil and Red Palm Fruit Oil. Contains soy derivatives. Contains only 100% Natural Vitamin E. Contains no: sugar, salt, starch, yeast, wheat, gluten, corn, milk, egg, shellfish or preservatives. ---------------- THE RDA - NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH For ages 14 years = 15 mg (22.4 IU) ---------------- VALUE OF SUPPLEMENTATION & APPROPRIATE LEVEL The Mayo Clinic evaluates the effectiveness of Vitamin E to help in preventing or treating 53 different conditions. It gives all a "C" grade (Unclear scientific evidence for this use) or "D" (Fair scientific evidence against this use, i.e. it may not work). The only use for which they believe there is solid scientific evidence is treating vitamin E deficiency, which is rare and should be managed under the care of a physician and nutritionist. "Most individuals in the United States are believed to obtain sufficient vitamin E from dietary sources... there is recent evidence suggesting possible adverse health effects from long-term use of daily supplementation with 400 IU or greater daily. Although controversial, the use of long-term vitamin E supplementation should be approached cautiously until further evidence from prospective clinical trials is available." From the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State ("LPI"): "The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for vitamin E for adult men and women is 15 mg (22.5 IU) per day. Notably, more than 90% of individuals 2 years of age and older in the U.S. do not meet the daily requirement for vitamin E from food sources alone, but there is inconclusive evidence that high-dose supplemental vitamin E reduces chronic disease risk. Therefore, LPI recommends that generally healthy adults (aged 19 years and older) take a daily multivitamin/mineral supplement, which usually contains 30 IU of synthetic vitamin E... There is no conclusive evidence that supplementation with high-dose vitamin E lowers chronic disease risk, and a few studies have reported harmful effects in some sub-populations." So, the math for this Now Foods product: 410mg/ 15 mg RDA = 27.3 x NIH RDA 400 IU / 22.4 IU RDA = 17.9x NIH RDA 400 IU / 30 IU = 13.3 x Linus Pauling Institute Recommendation Mayo Clinic does not recommend supplementation and says "there is recent evidence suggesting possible adverse health effects from long-term use of daily supplementation with 400 IU or greater daily." ================== OUR CONCLUSION: Now Foods makes quality supplements at a fair price, but we need to be choosy about what to take in order to maximize the return on our health investment. In general, we are trying to eat more whole, naturally raised foods to get our nutrition and pay attention to scientific evidence. The Nature's Plus whole food energy shake we use has 200 IU of vitamin E which more than covers our needs. So, we will not be further supplementing with vitamin E until there is more compelling scientific evidence about its benefits. As far as the stars go. We like and respect Now Foods and this is a quality product that deserves 5 stars, but the lack of scientific evidence as regards its usefulness for people other than those with a diagnosed vitamin E deficiency causes us to discount at least one star. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3/6/13 Further info and REPLY To Troys's Antagonistic Comments: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Patience Troy. Unlike you, we don't write reviews to "own" people. Nor do we write "retorts" (Def: to reply to, usually in a sharp or retaliatory way). We write reviews to share constructive information in pursuit of wise `product ownership' decisions. We appreciate the opportunity to learn from others and seek to keep the virtuous loop going. At our request, Nelson shared a lot of information (Thank you Nelson). However, the technical studies he shared generally relate to highly specialized conditions (e.g. kidney disease or post-meal glucose levels) and even when they are more general they are far from conclusive. In our humble opinion, these inconclusive and narrow technical studies are not the basis by which most people are likely to base their purchase decision especially since there is plenty of contrary evidence. Perhaps some people will share this technical information with their doctor and seek advice. Others may turn to the dedicated experts at progressive health institutions like the Mayo Clinic and The Linus Pauling Institute. The doctors and researchers at these highly respected institutions base their recommendations on much broader and deeper reviews of the scientific evidence than either we or Nelson do. Further, they do recommend supplements, just not vitamin E in any form or sub-constituent. In fact, they generally advise against supplementation of vitamin E (beyond a multi-vitamin) which is not the position they take on many other supplements. We've reviewed the information provided by Nelson as well as a lot of other information. Our opinion has not changed. Based on the current science, we are not taking or recommending vitamin E supplementation beyond that contained in a good multi-vitamin. Following find a small sampling of data points (see comments for web links deleted by Amazon): [1] Supplementation with vitamin E does not decrease mortality risk. [4] Vitamin E supplementation may increase Osteoporosis risk. Mice develop Osteoporosis after only eight weeks on a diet with levels of vitamin E significantly higher than those found in a mouse's natural diet, according to a study, published in the journal Nature Medicine. The research team, said vitamin E stimulates the generation of bone-degrading cells, which normally work with bone-forming cells to maintain bone strength. [...] There are many more studies out there for those who are interested in digging around. However, the above pretty clearly demonstrates that there are significant risks to vitamin E supplementation at 400 IU and above including increased risk of dying. As to Nelson's suggestion that the technical aspects of this product are somehow different, all one has to do is look up vitamin E to find out that this product's constituents are normal for vitamin E and normally occur in our diet. Sorry Troy, but we don't believe there is any magic here nor do the consensus of experts. Benedict Rocks