Some researchers believe that vitamin E may prevent respiratory diseases caused by air pollution. Dr. D. B. Menzel, nutrition and food technology manager, told a scientific conference in Miami: “Laboratory tests on rats show that those fortified with vitamin E live twice as long as the unfortified rats in an atmosphere which simulates smog concentrations like those found over Los Angeles or Tokyo on a bad day.”

Menzel went on to say: “This research suggests a definite protective effect of fat antioxidants, such as vitamin E, against biological damage by photochemical air pollutants such as ozone and nitrous dioxide.”

Researchers thus believe that vitamin E helps body tissues in coping with a lack of oxygen. It evidently produces better circulation of oxygen through the blood vessels.

Dr. Klaus Schwarz of the National Institute of Health believes that vitamin E is important for good liver health. Tests showed that rats deprived of vitamin E suffered liver degeneration.

A number of reports tell of the effectiveness of vitamins A and E as aids in counteracting the effects of air pollution. For example, a symposium on pollution and lung biochemistry in June 1970 was sponsored by Battelle-Northwest Research Institute and attended by some 200 scientists. Reporting on the symposium, Chemical and Engineering News of June 29, 1970, said: “Vitamins appear to play a much more vital role in safeguarding lungs from the ravages of air pollutants than has been generally realized.” It was pointed out that vitamins A and E “help maintain lung health​—vitamin E may protect vitamin A from destruction by air pollutants, while A directs formation of healthy cells in the lining of the lung.”