Lee Swanson Research Update

Low Levels of Vitamin E Increase Risk of Declining Physical Function

February 2008

How are the levels of vitamin E in your bloodstream? New research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that low levels of this important vitamin may increase the risk of declining physical function as you age.

"Maintaining independence of older persons is a public health priority," according to Yale researchers. "And identifying the factors that contribute to decline in physical function is needed to prevent or postpone the disablement process."

"Low plasma levels of vitamin E are associated with subsequent decline in physical function," said the study's lead author, Benedetta Bartali, a nutritionist and a Brown-Coxe postdoctoral fellow at Yale University's School of Medicine.

"As an antioxidant, vitamin E may prevent or reduce the propagation of free radicals in our body, and this may help to reduce muscle or DNA damage and the development, for example, of atherosclerosis and other pathologic conditions," Bartali said.

Because poor nutrition has been associated with physical decline in older people, Bartali and her colleagues randomly selected almost 700 adults over age 65 from an ongoing study in Tuscany, Italy. They reviewed blood tests to ascertain vitamin levels and reviewed data from physical function exams completed at the start of the study and at the three-year follow-up.

After adjusting the data to account for other factors that could contribute to physical decline, such as smoking or a lack of physical activity, the researchers found two factors were significantly associated with a greater chance of experiencing physical decline—age and low levels of vitamin E.

Being older than 81 years increased the odds of physical decline by 84%, and low levels of vitamin E in people between the ages of 70 and 80 increased the odds of physical decline by 60%, according to the study.

Journal of the American Medical Association 299(3):308-315, 2008

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