Vit E May Reduce Cardiovascular Disease in Type 2 Diabetics
I stongly recommend 800 IU of vitamin E daily to all my patients. This is such a simple and safe addition, and yet the benefit list of vitamin E keeps getting longer and longer.
Circulation 2000:102:191-196 Supplemental alpha-tocopherol (AT) given to type 2 diabetic patients decreases monocyte activity and soluble cell adhesion molecules, thereby possibly reducing the risk of macrovascular disease in this group, according to researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. “There are two main findings,” Dr. Jialal told Reuters Health. One, he said, is that this study is the first demonstration that there is increased inflammation in diabetes, whether patients have heart disease or not. “This was manifested by the monocyte plaque formation and the production of more superoxide, more cytokines and messenger molecules which bound to the endothelium,” he explained. “The second important finding, which is totally novel,” Dr. Jialal said, “is that when we gave the subjects vitamin E there was a substantial reduction in the monocyte function. Obviously we showed an antioxidant effect, as we have shown in other studies, but in addition, we showed that vitamin E, in high doses, is an anti-inflammatory agent.”