Vitamin E Prevents Physical Decline In Elderly
Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have found that low concentrations of vitamin E in the blood is linked with physical decline in the elderly.
The researchers randomly selected 698 people age 65 or older and collected blood samples.  They then measured blood levels of micronutrients including folate, iron and vitamins B6, B12, D and E. They assessed physical decline in the participants over a three-year period using an objective test of three tasks: walking speed, rising repeatedly from a chair, and standing balance.
“We evaluated the effects of several micronutrients and only vitamin E was significantly associated with decline in physical function,” said Bartali, a nutritionist and a Brown-Coxe Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale School of Medicine and the study’s lead author.
“The odds of declining in physical function was 1.62 time greater in persons with low levels of vitamin E compared with persons with higher levels,” she said.
“It is unlikely that vitamin E is simply a marker for poor nutrition because our results are independent of energy intake, and the effect of low levels of other micronutrients was not significant,” she added.
“Our results suggest that an appropriate dietary intake of vitamin E may help to reduce the decline in physical function among older persons. Since only one person in our study used vitamin E supplements, it is unknown whether the use of vitamin E supplements would have the same beneficial effect.”
Bartali stresses that vitamin E was the only antioxidant measured in the study and further studies are needed to determine whether low levels of other antioxidants would yield the same results.
As an antioxidant, vitamin E may prevent or reduce the propagation of free radicals in the human body, which are associated with physical decline. This may help reduce muscle or DNA damage and the development of pathological conditions like atherosclerosis. Bartali said further studies are needed to determine the mechanisms of how low levels of vitamin E contributes to a decline in physical function.
In the U.S., vegetable oils, nuts, green leafy vegetables, and fortified cereals are common food sources of vitamin E, according to the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements. Â
The study was published in the January 23 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association.
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