Daily supplements are generally regarded as a good thing, providing people with the vitamins and minerals they may be missing. However, new research suggests a daily supplement of vitamin E puts you at risk of thinning of the bones.
A Japanese study linked a compound in vitamin E to osteoporosis, the degenerative bone condition, where bone thins or breaks down more quickly than it can be replaced. Researchers from Keoi University discovered that taking alpha-tocopherol vitamin E supplements can quickly reduce bone mass.
Lab tests were carried out on rats and mice to reveal that alpha-tocopherol, which is the most common form of vitamin E, kickstarts bone-degrading cells by releasing low levels of “resorption”. Resorption is the process of breaking down and recycling bone minerals to regenerate the bones. Instead of increasing resorption to break the bones down effectively, alpha-tocopherol vitamin E thins the bones instead.
Their laboratory experiments used mice with low levels of vitamin E. Those mice had grown excessively thick bones because their bodies could not break down the old bone through resorption and so new, healthy bones could not be formed.
The team gave the mice doses of alpha-tocpherol vitamin E supplements equivalent to the doses taken by humans and after eight weeks, the mice showed a 20% reduction in bone mass. Mice given the less common form of vitamin E, delta-tocopherol, did not show the same effects.
Vitamin E is known for its powerful antioxidant properties, for its anti-ageing qualities and ability to protect against heart disease, stroke and cancer. However, the evidence of the Japanese study may give some people who take it as a supplement pause for thought, particularly older women most likely to be affected by osteoporosis.
The Japanese study, reported in the journal Nature Medicine, has called for a larger study into the potential effects of vitamin E on bone mass.