Vitamin E and Chronic Muscle Inflammation

United Press International (UPI) is today reporting on work that a U.S. researcher and her team have published which suggests that chronic muscle inflammation may be lessened by taking vitamin E. This scientist, Kimberly Huey of the University of Illinois in Champaign, says that vitamin E may be linked to a reduction in cytokines -- proteins that spur the immune response.

Huey's work was published in Experimental Physiology, and involved mice that were administered vitamin E for three days prior to giving them a minor systemic bacterial infection. This dose of e.coli was given the animal to induce a broad inflammation in the body of the animal, so that they could study the effect of Vitamin E.

The mice given vitamin E had less oxidized proteins in muscle tissue than the mice given a placebo. That's really good, because, as Huey says, "Oxidation can be detrimental, and in muscle has been associated with reduced muscle strength." This means that if you can reduce the oxidized proteins, it may correlate to increased muscle strength.

The authors report that vitamin E "may be beneficial in individuals with chronic inflammation, such as the elderly or patients with type II diabetes or chronic heart failure."

Dave