Vitamin E Supplementation and In Vivo Immune Response in Healthy Elderly Subjects: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether long-term supplementation with vitamin E enhances in vivo, clinically relevant measures of cell-mediated immunity in healthy elderly subjects. DESIGN: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled intervention study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: A total of 88 free-living, healthy subjects at least 65 years of age. INTERVENTION: Subjects were randomly assigned to a placebo group or to groups consuming 60, 200, or 800 mg/d of vitamin E for 235 days. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Delayed-type hypersensitivity skin response (DTH); antibody response to hepatitis B, tetanus and diphtheria, and pneumococcal vaccines; and autoantibodies to DNA and thyroglobulin were assessed before and after supplementation. RESULTS: Supplementation with vitamin E for 4 months improved certain clinically relevant indexes of cell-mediated immunity in healthy elderly. Subjects consuming 200 mg/d of vitamin E had a 65% increase in DTH and a 6-fold increase in antibody titer to hepatitis B compared with placebo (17% and 3-fold, respectively), 60-mg/d (41% and 3-fold, respectively), and 800-mg/d (49% and 2.5-fold, respectively) groups. The 200-mg/d group also had a significant increase in antibody titer to tetanus vaccine. Subjects in the upper tertile of serum alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) concentration (>48.4 micromol/L [2.08 mg/dL]) after supplementation had higher antibody response to hepatitis B and DTH. Vitamin E supplementation had no effect on antibody titer to diphtheria and did not affect immunoglobulin levels or levels of T and B cells. No significant effect of vitamin E supplementation on autoantibody levels was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that a level of vitamin E greater than currently recommended enhances certain clinically relevant in vivo indexes of T-cell-mediated function in healthy elderly persons. No adverse effects were observed with vitamin E supplementation.
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Vitamin supplementation studies in older adults have demonstrated a role for vitamin E in the production of IL-2 and activation-induced T cell proliferation in naïve but not memory T cells.
“Vitamin supplementation studies in older adults have demonstrated a role for vitamin E in the production of IL-2 as well as the activation induced T cell proliferation in naïve but not in memory T cells (78, 113–115).”
From Immunosenescence and Its Hallmarks: How to Oppose Aging Strategically? A Review of Potential Options for Therapeutic Intervention (2019) · cites this paper as [113]
Vitamin E can also improve T-cell-mediated immunity and increase the production of antibodies in response to the hepatitis B and tetanus vaccines.
“Vitamin E can also improve T-cell-mediated immunity and increase the production of antibodies in response to the hepatitis B and tetanus vaccines [124].”
From Immune function and micronutrient requirements change over the life course (2018) · cites this paper as [124]
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- Authors
- Meydani, S. N.
- Affiliations
- Tufts University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Meydani, Simin Nikbin
- Venue
- JAMA
- Publisher
- American Medical Association (AMA)
- Published
- 1997-05-07
- Volume
- 277
- Issue
- 17
- Pages
- 1380
- ISSN
- 0002-9955 (ISSN-L)
- 0098-7484
- OpenAlex
- W2025830885
- Cited by
- 545
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 23
- FWCI
- 23.95
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- JAMA (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Biochemistry › Antioxidant Activity and Oxidative Stress
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Rehabilitation › Exercise and Physiological Responses
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutrition and Health Studies
- Keywords
- vitamin E supplementation, alpha-tocopherol, cell-mediated immunity, older adults, delayed-type hypersensitivity, vaccine antibody response, hepatitis B vaccine, tetanus vaccine, diphtheria vaccine, pneumococcal vaccine, autoantibodies, T cell function, immunosenescence
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Analysis of Variance, Autoantibodies, Cytotoxicity, Immunologic, Double-Blind Method, Female, Food, Fortified, Health Status, Humans, Hypersensitivity, Delayed, Immunity, Cellular, Immunoglobulins, Male, Vaccination, Vitamin E
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