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UT SOUTHWESTERN STUDY SHOWS VITAMIN E REDUCES LEVELS OF A PROTEIN THAT PREDICTS HEART DISEASE
DALLAS - Oct. 23, 2000 - Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have found that a high intake of the antioxidant vitamin E reduces levels of a predictor of cardiovascular disease called C-reactive protein, or CRP.
Dr. Sridevi Devaraj, assistant professor of pathology, and Dr. Ishwarlal Jialal, professor of pathology and internal medicine, conducted a five-month study on 75 people, some with non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus.
The study subjects were divided into three groups: those with type II diabetes and heart disease, those with type II diabetes without heart disease, and normal controls. Each person in each group was given 1,200 International Units of natural vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) daily for three months.
The researchers measured each person's CRP levels before and after supplementation and two months after the vitamin E therapy had ended. They found that vitamin E supplementation lowered levels of CRP by 30 percent in all three groups. Levels of the monocyte interleukin-6, which elicits the secretion of CRP from the liver, were decreased an average of 50 percent in all groups. Their findings were reported in the Oct. 23 issue of Free Radical Biology & Medicine.
"This study shows that vitamin E lowers CRP significantly in both diabetics and nondiabetics. The research suggests that vitamin E could be an additional therapy in our quest to reduce cardiovascular disease," said Jialal, the principal investigator of the study.
The blood tests administered before the vitamin E therapy began also showed that diabetic patients, especially those with vascular complications, have increased levels of CRP and interleukin-6. CRP is produced in the liver. The average level of CRP is 4 milligrams per liter of blood or less. Studies have shown that individuals with and without heart disease and stroke complications are more prone to subsequent heart attacks and stroke if CRP levels are 2milligrams per liter or greater.
"Recent studies have shown that by using a highly sensitive CRP assay we can measure levels in the normal range more accurately. Even if an individual has a normal CRP level, if the value is greater than 2 milligrams per liter compared to CRP levels less than 0.5 milligrams per liter, the risk for heart disease and stroke is at least two times greater in diabetics and nondiabetics inspite of levels being in the reference range," said Jialal, a senior investigator in the Center for Human Nutrition.
In a study published in the July issue of Circulation, the UT Southwestern researchers found that natural vitamin E can help reduce heart disease and stroke in diabetics by directly reducing inflammation caused by white blood cells, or monocytes.
"Diabetics have increased inflammation and are more prone to cardiovascular disease," Devaraj said. "This is another piece of evidence that shows that vitamin E decreases another prototypic marker of inflammation and may thereby contribute to reduction in cardiovascular disease in both diabetics and nondiabetic subjects."
Studies have shown that CRP is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease in people with and without diabetes. Type II diabetes is the most common form of diabetes, and it accounts for 90 percent to 95 percent of diabetes. Heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of death and morbidity in type II diabetics.
The American Diabetes Association funded the study.
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