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Review
. 2022 Oct 3;10(10):2473.
doi: 10.3390/biomedicines10102473.

Vitamin E and Non-Communicable Diseases: A Review

Giulia Ciarcià  1 , Simone Bianchi  1   2 , Barbara Tomasello  1   2 , Rosaria Acquaviva  1   2   3 , Giuseppe Antonio Malfa  1   2 , Irina Naletova  4 , Alfonsina La Mantia  1 , Claudia Di Giacomo  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Vitamin E and Non-Communicable Diseases: A Review

Giulia Ciarcià et al. Biomedicines. .

Abstract

Vitamin E, a nutrient found in several foods, comprises eight lipophilic vitamers, the α-, β-, γ- and δ-tocopherols and the α-, β-, γ- and δ-tocotrienols. This vitamin is capable of exerting antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, and acting as immunomodulators. Despite these well-known biological activities, the findings regarding the ability of vitamin E and its serum metabolites to prevent and/or control chronic disease are often conflicting and inconsistent. In this review, we have described the metabolism of vitamin E and its interaction with the gut microbiota, considering that these factors may be partially responsible for the divergent results obtained. In addition, we focused on the correlations between vitamin E serum levels, dietary intake and/or supplementation, and the main non-communicable diseases, including diabetes mellitus, asthma, cardiovascular diseases, and the four most common cancers (breast cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and prostate cancer) with the intention of providing an overview of its health effects in the non-communicable-diseases prevention.

Keywords: Vitamin E; anti-inflammatory; antioxidant; asthma; cancer; cardiovascular diseases; diabetes; tocopherols; tocotrienols.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Naturally occurring tocopherols (A–D) and tocotrienols (E–H): α-tocopherol (A); β-tocopherol (B); γ-tocopherol (C); δ-tocopherol (D); α-tocotrienol (E); β-tocotrienol (F); γ-tocotrienol (G); δ-tocotrienol (H).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Microbiota-colon cancer loop: the probable modulating effect of Vitamin E.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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