Vit E and cholesterol

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Vitamin E: To say that vitamin E is very important to our health is

an understatement: it is protective against approximately 80

diseases. Vitamin E may help inhibit and slow the development of LDL

oxidation, the progression of cardiovascular-related diseases, and

possibly slow aging. Vitamin E has the ability to stabilize free

radicals. Free radicals are unstable oxygen molecules that can break

down and degenerate cells, much as oxygen causes rust on iron.

Partly caused by increased LDL cholesterol oxidation, free radicals

result in increased plaque deposits and restricted blood flow,

making them extremely dangerous to the interior of arteries.

Increased blood cell adhesion to human aortic endothelial cells

(ECs) lining veins and arteries is one of the early events in the

development of atherogenesis. Investigators in 1997, in the Journal

of Thrombosis and Vascular Biology (United States), indicate that

vitamin E has an " inhibitory effect " on LDL-induced production of

adhesion molecules and adhesion of blood cell to ECs via its

antioxidant function and/or its direct regulatory effect on cell

adhesion and arteriosclerosis.

The elderly may receive extra value from vitamin E supplementation,

as supplementation with 100 IU vitamin E in the elderly has been

reported as beneficial in lowering the rate of oxidation of LDL,

slowing the progression of atherosclerosis (Atherosclerosis, Sept.

1997, 133[2]:255-63).

Smokers may benefit from long-term vitamin E supplementation, as it

has been reported to improve endothelium-dependent relaxation in

forearm resistance in vessels of hypercholesterolemic smokers which

are characterized by increased levels of auto-antibodies against

oxidized LDL. These findings suggest the beneficial effect of

vitamin E for subjects with increased exposure to oxidized LDL such

as smokers.

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