Vitamin E is a chain-breaking antioxidant that protects membranes from free-radical damage. Evidence suggests significant impact of vitamin E on the modulation of immune functions. Results from animal and human studies indicate that vitamin E deficiency impairs both humoral and cell-mediated immune functions.
Supplementation of vitamin E above the recommended levels has been shown to enhance immune functions and to be associated with increased resistance against several pathogens,
What is the problem and what is known about it so far?
People who are malnourished are not able to fight infection as well as people who are well nourished. The ability of the body to fight infection is called immunity or immune function. Some believe that supplementing food intake with vitamin and minerals will improve immune function.
The immune system acts to protect the host from infectious agents that exist in the environment (bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites) and from other noxious insults. The immune system is constantly active, acting to discriminate ‘non-self’ from ‘self’. The immune system has two functional divisions: the innate and the acquired. Both components involve various blood-borne factors (complement,
Background: Hearing impairment is 1 of the 4 most prevalent chronic conditions in the elderly. However, the biological basis of age-related hearing loss is unknown.
Objective: The objective was to test the hypothesis that age-related hearing loss may be associated with poor vitamin B-12 and folate status.
Design: A thorough audiometric assessment was conducted in 55 healthy women aged 60–71 y.
Objective: To determine the prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in primary care outpatients with persistent, nonspecific musculoskeletal pain syndromes refractory to standard therapies.
Patients and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 150 patients presented consecutively between February 2000 and June 2002 with persistent, nonspecific musculoskeletal pain to the Community University Health Care Center,
The purpose of the study was to determine the oxidative and antioxidative status of plasma in patients with fibromyalgia. Total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of plasma was significantly lower in patients with fibromyalgia (n = 20) than in healthy controls (n = 20) [1.5 (SD 0.3) and 1.9 (SD 0.3) mmol Trolox equiv./l,
Fibromyalgia (FM) is a common rheumatic condition with an unknown etiology. The role of diet in the results of FM has been the subject of a small but growing body of research, particularly in Scandinavian nations, with results showing benefits in pain reduction, sleep quality, and general health.
Removal of dietary excitotoxins, alteration of cytokines,
We proposed to assess the oxidant/antioxidant status, lipid peroxidation and nitric oxide (NO) in untreated fibromyalgia (FM) patients and controls. The effect of amitriptyline (A, 20 mg daily) and sertraline (S, 100 mg daily) results on patients’ superoxide dismutase (SOD), xanthine oxidase (XO), adenosine deaminase (ADA) enzyme activities, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and NO levels was investigated.
