One-third of Americans who have the common cluster of health problems known as metabolic syndrome may be deficient in vitamin E, a new study finds.
Metabolic syndrome is defined as having least three of five factors that increase the risk for heart disease and diabetes – excess belly fat, elevated blood pressure, low “good” cholesterol, and high levels of blood glucose and triglycerides.
Researchers at Ohio State University conducted a study in which participants who drank milk along with the natural form of vitamin E absorbed between 26.1 and 29.5 percent of the vitamin, depending on their health status.
The researchers also found, however, that those people with metabolic syndrome absorbed less vitamin E than healthy people in the study. This is troubling because it shows that people who have metabolic syndrome probably receive less of vitamin E’s beneficial antioxidant properties, the researchers said.
Although vitamin E deficiency is common in undeveloped countries, it is rare in the U.S. But a significant proportion of Americans have “suboptimal status” when it comes to fully benefiting from vitamin E’s antioxidant properties, the researchers said.
Alpha-tocopherol, a natural form of vitamin E in food and the only form essential to human health, is an antioxidant that prevents fats from becoming rancid in the body. The recommended daily intake is 15 milligrams, and most Americans consume about half that amount, the researchers said in the study, published in the
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.