TREATMENT DATABASE

Vitamin E (tocopherol) is a fat-soluble vitamin found in butterfat, meats, vegetable oils, and particularly wheat germ oil. It is made up of four tocopherols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta) and four tocotrienols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta). Like other antioxidants, vitamin E serves to protect cell linings from damage caused by oxidation. It helps to maintain red blood cell membranes and other cell tissues (even the walls of the tiny structures within cells), ensures normal muscle metabolism, and protects essential unsaturated fatty acids and vitamin A from destruction from oxidation. Vitamin E has protective activity against methyl mercury toxicity and increases the activity of glutathione. Zinc is needed to maintain proper levels of vitamin E in the blood; thus, zinc deficiency can lead to low vitamin E levels.

USES IN ME/CFS. In a study conducted in Italy, researchers found that ME/CFS patients exhibited significantly lower antioxidants (vitamin E among others) in serum samples as compared to controls. The ME/CFS group also had lower pain thresholds than controls in all muscle sites tested. The researchers correlated levels of vitamin E concentration to the degree of muscle pain — the lower the vitamin E levels, the greater the pain. While the researchers did not offer treatment suggestions, their findings indicate that supplementation would be beneficial.

Another study in 2009 found low serum levels of vitamin E in ME/CFS patients. They concluded that the reduction in vitamin E was due to oxidative stress. In a later study, Miwa and Fujita found that low serum levels of vitamin E in ME/CFS patients correlated with flares. They concluded that the “low level of serum alpha-tocopherol was ameliorated during the remission phase as compared with the exacerbation phase in the patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, suggesting that increased oxidative stress may be involved in the pathogenesis of chronic fatigue syndrome and might also be directly related to the severity of the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome.” This conclusion is very much in line with research demonstrating oxidative stress in people with ME/CFS, and leads to a specific course of supplementation. Vitamin E reduces oxidative stress by mitigating the effects of lipid peroxidation. Vitamin E can also reduce chronic inflammation by down-regulating the NF-kappaB inflammatory pathway.

In keeping with these findings, and numerous other studies linking oxidative stress to ME/CFS symptoms, vitamin E is used chiefly for its properties as an antioxidant. Its ability to strengthen cell walls and protect other vitamins and fats from destruction makes it highly desirable as an adjunct to other vitamin therapies.

Treatment rating for Vitamin E