Positive Health Online

Abstract

UPRITCHARD and colleagues, Unilever Health Institute, Unilever Research and Development Vlaardingen, Vlaardingen, Netherlands, jane.upritchard@unilever.com, have found that a spread supplemented with moderate doses of vitamin E and carotenoids reduces lipid peroxidation in healthy nonsmokers.

Background

It has been shown that high doses of vitamin E decrease the lipid peroxidation in people under oxidative stress. At present it is not clear whether moderate doses can benefit people who are not under particular oxidative stress. The aim if this study was to find out the effect of vitamin E and carotenoids contained in a food product on markers of lipid peroxidation in healthy adults.

Methodology

In this double-blinded randomized placebo-controlled study, 105 healthy adults were assigned to one of three groups. For a peroid of nine weeks, each person ate 25 g daily of one of three different spreads, where spread 1 contained 43 mg vitamin E and 0.45 mg carotenoids, spread 2 contained 111 mg vitamin E and 1.24 mg carotenoids, and spread 3 contained 1.3 mg vitamin E only (control).

Results

The levels of plasma vitamin E in subjects on spread 1 increased by 31% as compared to baseline. This resulted in an increase in total antioxidant capacity of low-density lipoproteins by 17%, and a resistance to oxidative stress increased by 18%. Subjects on spread 2 had larger improvements in oxidative capacity.

Conclusion

The consumption of food products containing moderate doses of vitamin E and carotenoids can lead to measurable and significant improvement in antioxidant status in healthy adults.

References

Upritchard JE, Schuurman CRWC, Wiersma A, Tijburg LBM, Coolen SAJ, Rijken PJ, Wiseman SA. Spread supplemented with moderate doses of vitamin E and carotenoids reduces lipid peroxidation in healthy, nonsmoking adults. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 78 (5): 985-992, Nov 2003.