Researchers at Yale School of Medicine
have found that a low concentration of vitamin E in the blood is linked with
physical decline in older persons. — By Karen Peart
T H I S
IN MEMORIAM
Published in the Jan. 23 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association,
the study included 698 people age 65 or older who were randomly selected from
the population registry in two municipalities close to Florence, Italy.
The researchers, led by first author Benedetta Bartali of Yale, collected blood
samples to measure the levels of micronutrients including folate, iron and
vitamins B6, B12, D and E. They assessed physical decline in the study 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,” says Bartali,
a nutritionist and a Brown-Coxe Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale School of Medicine. “The
odds of declining in physical function was 1.62 times greater in persons with
low levels of vitamin E compared with persons with higher levels.”
Bartali adds, “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. 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. Appropriate
levels of the vitamin may help reduce muscle or DNA damage and the development
of pathological conditions like atherosclerosis. Bartali says further studies
are needed to determine the mechanisms of how low levels of vitamin E contribute
to a decline in physical function.
Other authors on the study included Edward A. Frongillo, Dr. Jack M. Guralnik,
Martha H. Stipanuk, Heather G. Allore, Dr. Antonio Cherubini, Dr. Stefania
Bandinelli, Dr. Luigi Ferrucci and Dr. Thomas M. Gill.
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