Inflammation is your immune system's defensive response to infection or injury. When inflammation occurs for a prolonged period, however, it can have a negative impact on your health. Chronic inflammation is a factor in some of the most serious diseases commonly faced by Americans. Vitamin E is among the nutrients that may have an effect on inflammation.
Inflammation and Immune Function
When your body incurs an injury or infection, your immune system dispatches chemical mediators such as histamine to the site. Histamine increases the permeability of your blood vessel walls, allowing fluid that contains white blood cells to exit the blood stream and flood the affected area. The increased blood flow and vascular permeability can cause swelling, redness, heat and pain, which are the classic signs of inflammation.
Chronic Inflammation and Disease
Chronic inflammation always causes damage to the tissues affected by it. This damage can be limited to a specific site, or, in the cases of systemic disease, can extend throughout organ systems, according to "The Human Body in Health and Disease." The causes of many inflammatory disease remain unclear, but they include arthritis, asthma, and bronchitis.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E is an organic compound that is essential to human health. Your body cannot manufacture vitamin E, so you must consume it in your diet. The Office of Dietary Supplements recommends that adults consume a daily vitamin E intake of 15 mg. Vitamin E is readily available in the typical American diet. It is found in food such as walnuts, avocados, olive oil, spinach and carrots. Deficiencies most commonly result from medical conditions that prevent the body from properly metabolizing vitamin E, rather than from a dietary shortfall.
Effects on Inflammation
Numerous studies have examined the effects of vitamin E on inflammation. In 2007, the journal "Vitamins and Hormones" published a study that states that alpha-tocopherol, a form of vitamin E, has both anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Also in 2007, research published in "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" found that alpha tocopherol decreased inflammation in patients with coronary artery disease. Vitamin E was also shown to have anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic effects in cases of lung and colon cancer in a 2010 study published in "Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences."
References
- "Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences"; INhibition of Inflammation and Carcinogenesis in the Lung and Colon by Tocopherols; Chung S. Yang, at al.; November 2010
- "Vitamins and Hormones"; Vitamin E: Inflammation and Atherosclerosis; U. Singh, et al.; 2007
- Office of Dietary Supplements: Vitamin E
- "The Human Body in Health and Disease"; Gary A. Thibodeau, et al; 2002
- "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; Effect of High-Dose α-Tocopherol Supplementation on Biomarkers of Oxidative Stress and Inflammation and Carotid Atherosclerosis in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease; Sridevi Devarag, et al.; November 2007
