Vitamin E ingestion improves several immune functions in elderly men and women

Abstract

The effects of diet supplementation with the antioxidant vitamin E (200 mg daily) on several blood neutrophil, lymphocyte and natural killer cell functions have been investigated in healthy elderly men and women before supplementation, after 3 months of supplementation and 6 months after the end of supplementation (post-supplementation). In parallel, samples of healthy adult men and women were used as age controls. In elderly men and women, an impairment of immune functions was observed in comparison with the respective adult controls and the intake of vitamin E resulted in a significant enhancement of immune parameters in both elderly men and women, bringing their values close to those in the adults. These effects were not found in post-supplementation samples in several but not in all functions. The present findings suggest that supplementation with vitamin E can produce an improvement of immune functions and therefore of health in aged people.

Exercise and the Immune System – Focusing on the Effect of Exercise on Neutrophil Functions

“…To the best of our knowledge, there are no studies addressing the effect of VE on exercise-induced impaired chemotaxis. However, a beneficial effect of VE on chemotaxis was shown in other populations, such as healthy elderly men and women and elderly women with coronary heart disease or major depressive disorder (72,73). Improvement in chemotactic ability after VE supplementation was also found in rats with VE deficiency and in periparturient dairy cows (75,76).…”

“…VE has an important role as anti-oxidant and an important role in maintaining normal neutrophil function. Chemotaxis, adherence, and phagocytic capacities of neutrophils were shown to be reduced in VE deficiency, improving after antioxidant treatment (65,72,73). Our research focused on the phagocytic immune response to exercise, showing prevention of the impairments by vitamin E supplementation.…”

Effects of Health Food Containing Cistanche Deserticola Extract on QOL and Safety in Elderly: An Open Pilot Study of 12-week Oral Treatment

“…Other components of the capsules include fucoidans 12,13) , vitamin E [14][15][16] , zinc 17,18) , vitamin B6 and coenzyme Q10 19) . These supplements have been used in traditional Chinese medicine as nutritional fortification elements and are believed to improve immune function.…”

“…13 In general, antioxidants exert vasodilator effects, while free radicals exert vasoconstrictor effects and add vascular tension 38) . Test products used here contain CDX extract 20,34) , vitamin E [14][15][16] , and coenzyme Q10 19) , all of which have antioxidant effects. These ingredients may have acted as vasodilators, thereby reducing vascular tension.…”

Immune Status and the Development of Listeria monocytogenes Infection in Aged and Young Guinea Pigs

“…Orthomolecular doses of vitamin E have been studied with respect to immunological and clinical implications and have been shown to promote both the cellular and humoral immune responses in humans and animals. In particular, supplementation of the diet with vitamin E was demonstrated to stimulate the immune system of the elderly [8][9][10][11][12] at least in part by mitigation of viral and bacterial infections [8]. Research suggests that vitamin E has a positive e ect on proliferation and stimulation of cytotoxic T cells [8,[13][14][15].…”