It sounds like you're off to a great start. Can I assume your family history consists of some heart or cholesterol issues? There are several studies out there on the benefits of Vitamin E. One of which was published in the 2005 JAMA and involved 40,000 women. "...Vitamin E was shown to confer a 24% decrease risk of cardiovascular death" and in women over 65, it reduced the risk of cardiovascular death by 49%.

A couple things to keep in mind. If you decide to take vitamin E, make sure you are getting the natural form. It's easy enough to check. When you look at the ingredients, the vitamin E should be in the d-alpha tocopheryl form. The dl-alpha tocopheryl is synthetic and does not absorb as well (or at all). Most over the counter vitamins use the dl-alpha version because it's cheaper.

Additionally, grape seed extract and olive oil are very good for heart disease. A study was done on olive oil consuming countries. The island of Crete (off Greece) had the highest consumption of olive oil and also has 40x less death from heart disease than the U.S.

Lastly, try to make sure you are taking pharmaceutical grade supplements. They undergo more rigorous testing than over the counter vitamins, are higher quality, and dissolve better.

Thanks huffster for the information.

You assumed right, family history of heart and cholesterol problems.

I lost four members of my family within a few months of eachother in 2006, (my uncle, then my father, a cousin, and my grandmother). It was the hardest yr of my life. In the midst of all this, my oldest daughter was getting married, so we were planning a wedding. I started having chest pain, kept putting it off thinking it was due to all the stress. Got to the place I couldn't ignore it any more so went to doc. and to make a long story short they found somethings on the nuclear imaging that they didn't like so they want me to do a heart cath......which to put lightley.....I Do Not Want To Do!!!

I will be 40 this yr. My oldest child is going to be 21 next month, my youngest is 4. (yeah, I know , I thought my best friend needed her head examined when her oldest was in high school and she decided to get pregnant with her youngest).....anyway, need to be around to raise all my babies......so I started looking into health...and trying to get good info on supplements.......they kind of scare me because there is so much different info.....some say you can overdose and they can be of more harm than good...... I'll tell ya what....I've been on these vitamins for going on three months, and I do feel better. More energy than I've had in a long time.

Sorry for rambling.....Thanks again for the good info......