Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2008 Feb;19(1):30-8.
doi: 10.1097/MOL.0b013e3282f2dab6.

Vitamin E revisited: do new data validate benefits for chronic disease prevention?

Maret G Traber  1 , Balz Frei, Joseph S Beckman
Affiliations
Review

Vitamin E revisited: do new data validate benefits for chronic disease prevention?

Maret G Traber et al. Curr Opin Lipidol. 2008 Feb.

Abstract

Purpose of review: Vitamin E benefits in human health and chronic disease prevention are evaluated with respect to established alpha-tocopherol functions during vitamin E deficiency, adequacy, and excess.

Recent findings: Baseline vitamin E status of the 29 092 Finnish men participating in the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention study showed that the men in the highest compared with the lowest quintile of serum alpha-tocopherol had significantly lower incidences of total and cause-specific mortality. New findings from the Women's Health Study support a role for vitamin E supplements in decreasing the risk for sudden death from cardiovascular disease and from thromboembolism. We speculate that a potential mechanism may involve vitamin E interference in vitamin K activation.

Summary: alpha-Tocopherol acts as a peroxyl and alkoxyl radical scavenger in lipid environments, and thus it prevents lipid peroxidation in lipoproteins and membranes, especially nervous tissues. Decreased chronic disease incidence is associated with lifelong generous dietary vitamin E intakes, but more than 90% of Americans do not consume the recommended dietary amounts (15 mg/day). Vitamin E supplements can have beneficial effects on health beyond those from dietary amounts, perhaps because pharmacologic levels also upregulate hepatic xenobiotic pathways.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types