Study: Vitamin E Lifts Immune Functions In Aging

A new study suggests that the near-universal decline in the health of the immune system that accompanies aging may be slowed by supplements of vitamin E.

According to findings being published today in The Journal of the American Medical Association, various immune functions were given a significant lift by daily supplements of vitamin E for 235 days, with the best results occurring with a supplement of 200 milligrams a day. (One milligram is approximately equal to one international unit of vitamin E.)

Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that has received much scientific and popular attention in recent years for its purported ability to delay the ravages of age.

The new study, directed by Dr. Simin Nikbin Meydani of Tufts University in Boston, involved 88 healthy men and women 65 and older who were randomly assigned to receive one of three levels of vitamin E - 60, 200 or 800 milligrams a day - or a look-alike placebo. The lowest dose tested represented twice the current daily recommended intake of vitamin E. The study measured such immune functions as the amount of antibody produced in response to a vaccine.