Vitamin E Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Vitamin E, including details on benefits, dosage, supplements, antioxidants.

Pro-oxidant effect of alpha-tocopherol in patients with type 2 diabetes after an oral glucose tolerance test--a randomised controlled trial.

Winterbone MS, Sampson MJ, Saha S, Hughes JC, Hughes DA

Institute of Food Research, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7UA, UK. mark.winterbone@bbsrc.ac.uk

BACKGROUND: As a part of a larger study investigating the effects of alpha-tocopherol on gene expression in type 2 diabetics we observed a pro-oxidant effect of alpha-tocopherol which we believe may be useful in interpreting outcomes of large intervention trials of alpha-tocopherol. METHODS: 19 type 2 diabetes subjects were randomised into two groups taking either 1200 IU/day of alpha-tocopherol or a matched placebo for 4 weeks. On day 0 and 29 of this study oxidative DNA damage was assessed in mononuclear cells from fasted blood samples and following a 2 h glucose tolerance test (GTT). RESULTS: On day 0 there was no significant difference in oxidative DNA damage between the two groups or following a GTT. On day 29 there was no significant difference in oxidative DNA damage in fasted blood samples, however following a GTT there was a significant increase in oxidative DNA damage in the alpha-tocopherol treatment group. CONCLUSION: High dose supplementation with alpha-tocopherol primes mononuclear cells from patients with type 2 diabetes for a potentially damaging response to acute hyperglycaemia.

Published 9 March 2007 in Cardiovasc Diabetol, 6: 8.
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