New Human Study Finds Vitamin E Supplement May Counteract Signs of Aging

Highlights

• Aged participants who took tocotrienol daily for six months scored significantly better on assessments of quality of life.
• Tocotrienol also increased antioxidant enzymes as well as telomerase (an enzyme that extends the protective caps of DNA at the ends of chromosomes).

While vitamin supplements are not a magical solution to reverse aging, some may offer support in slowing down aging processes and reducing the risk of age-related conditions. This may be especially true when supplements are combined with regular exercise and a well-rounded diet.

Along those lines, Lee and colleagues from the University of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia published an article in Nutrients suggesting that tocotrienol, a form of vitamin E, improves signs of aging in older adults. Accordingly, in a randomized controlled trial, a gold standard method for assessing the potential causation of an intervention, Lee and colleagues found that tocotrienol improved psychological well-being, as measured with a questionnaire. Moreover, tocotrienol increased antioxidant enzymes that exist in cells and cellular telomerase (an enzyme that extends protective caps of DNA at the ends of chromosomes). These findings suggest that tocotrienol supplementation does improve signs of aging, like declining psychological well-being, reduced antioxidant enzymes, and lower telomerase activity.

“Taken together, these findings support the potential of tocotrienol as a safe and effective nutraceutical intervention for mitigating age-associated biological change,” said Lee and colleagues in their publication.

Tocotrienol is a fat-soluble form of vitamin E found in palm oil and rice bran. The fat-soluble characteristic of tocotrienol makes it easier for this form of vitamin E to incorporate into cellular membranes and penetrate tissues compared to other forms of vitamin E, like tocopherols. Accordingly, tocotrienol is believed to serve as a more potent form of vitamin E.

Moreover, research has suggested that tocotrienol works against signs of aging, like microscopic lesions in the brain that can lead to cognitive decline. Despite these encouraging findings, to date, there has been a lack of well-designed, comprehensive assessments of tocotrienol’s effects on markers of aging in older adults. For this reason, Lee and colleagues performed their randomized controlled trial on adults with an average age of about 60 to determine how tocotrienol affects various signs of aging.

Tocotrienol Improves Characteristics of Aging

To unravel whether tocotrienol improves psychological well-being, Lee and colleagues gave a self-answered quality-of-life questionnaire to participants before beginning the study. The researchers followed up with the same questionnaire in the middle of the study, after participants had consumed a drink with 200 milligrams of tocotrienol daily for 12 weeks, and at the end of the study, after participants had consumed tocotrienol for six months. This quality-of-life questionnaire included self-reported assessments of physical, psychological, social, and environmental factors that affect the participants.

Interestingly, at the end of the study, participants who had taken tocotrienol for six months scored significantly better on the quality-of-life questionnaire compared to others who took a placebo. This questionnaire, which is meant to broadly reflect psychological well-being, has an inherent degree of subjectivity since it relies on self-reported answers. With that being the case, subjective answers may have some degree of bias, making them lack precision. All the same, the significantly better scores of participants who took tocotrienol lend support to the notion that this form of vitamin E improves psychological well-being.

To get a better grasp on how tocotrienol may promote psychological well-being and counteract signs of aging, Lee and colleagues measured blood levels of antioxidant enzymes. Antioxidant enzymes relate to aging because they neutralize harmful, reactive molecules called reactive oxygen species. Reactive oxygen species build up in cells with age. The accumulation of reactive oxygen species in cells can lead to chronic, low-grade inflammation, associated with processes of aging and deteriorating psychological well-being. Accordingly, assessing antioxidant enzyme levels could serve as a window to seeing how supplementing with tocotrienol may help with psychological well-being in aged individuals.

Interestingly, the Malaysian researchers found that tocotrienol improved blood markers for antioxidant enzyme activity, namely, increasing levels of the antioxidant enzyme catalase. This finding suggests that supplementing with tocotrienol counteracts waning antioxidant enzyme levels, a sign of aging.

To find how tocotrienol supplementation affects other related signs of aging, Lee and colleagues measured blood levels of an enzyme—telomerase—that extends the protective ends of DNA on chromosomes (known as telomeres). Telomere shortening is a key hallmark of aging, and telomerase extends telomeres to work against this hallmark. Moreover, research suggests that the buildup of reactive oxygen species hinders telomerase activity. For this reason, Lee and colleagues wanted to explore whether increasing antioxidant enzyme levels (which neutralize reactive oxygen species) by taking tocotrienol improves telomerase levels.

Intriguingly, Lee and colleagues found that tocotrienol supplementation increased blood telomerase levels. These findings suggest that tocotrienol works against lowered levels of telomerase, a sign of aging.

Finding Whether Tocotrienol Counteracts Other Aspects of Aging if Taken for Longer Durations

Lee and colleagues used 200 milligrams of tocotrienol mixed into a beverage that participants drank daily for six months in a double-blind controlled trial. The double-blind aspect of the study means that, to eliminate potential bias during data analyses, the researchers could not tell which participants took tocotrienol or a placebo when assessing effects against signs of aging. The controlled aspect of the study refers to the fact that, besides having a group of participants who supplemented with tocotrienol, another group was given a similar placebo beverage without tocotrienol for comparison. Thus, this double-blind, controlled method of assessing the effects of tocotrienol supplementation serves as perhaps one of the best ways to evaluate whether an intervention like tocotrienol causes any effects against signs of aging.

Perhaps the promising findings from Lee and colleagues’ study will stimulate researchers to follow up with more comprehensive evaluations of tocotrienol’s effects against aging. Along those lines, using brain imaging techniques, such as fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), in future studies to evaluate brain metabolism patterns associated with psychological well-being could help confirm that tocotrienol improves psychological well-being.

A limitation of Lee and colleagues’ study was that it lasted a mere six months. Future studies that last longer could help unravel whether tocotrienol supplementation for longer durations leads to other effects against aging. For example, some research suggests that tocotrienol may work against skin aging by reducing skin inflammation, suggesting that taking tocotrienol for longer periods could help reduce wrinkles as people age.

Collectively, Lee and colleagues’ study puts the spotlight on tocotrienol supplementation as a possible way to mitigate some aspects of aging, like reduced antioxidant enzymes and telomerase. For anyone interested in supplementing with tocotrienol, a month’s supply of tocotrienol supplements costs anywhere between $10 and $80.