Vitamin E Deficiency And Iron Toxicity

While researching another topic, I stumbled on some interesting information. I have always stressed the importance of vitamin E to thalassemics because the vast majority of thals test severely deficient in vitamin E and because vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant.
This study goes even further and shows that vitamin E can help prevent the generation of the superoxides that release iron as labile or free iron.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/112143611/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

Dietary vitamin E reduces labile iron in rat tissues
Wissam Ibrahim, Ching Kuang Chow *
Graduate Center for Nutritional Sciences and Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0054, USA
email: Ching Kuang Chow (ckchow@uky.edu)

*Correspondence to Ching Kuang Chow, Graduate Center for Nutritional Sciences and Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0054, USA

Keywords
Vitamin E • Labile Iron • Rat Tissues

Abstract
Previous studies have shown that dietary vitamin E reduced generation and/or levels of superoxide. As superoxide has potential to release iron from its transport and storage proteins, and labile or available form of iron is capable of catalyzing the formation of reactive hydroxyl radicals, the effect of dietary vitamin E on labile iron pool was studied in rats. One-month-old Sprague-Dawley male and female rats were fed a basal vitamin E-deficient diet supplemented with 0, 20, 200, or 2,000 IU vitamin E/kg diet for 90 days. The levels of labile iron were measured in the liver, kidney, spleen, heart and skeletal muscle. Additionally, the levels of lipid peroxidation products were measured. The results showed that, except for labile iron in the heart of male rats, dietary vitamin E dose dependently reduced the levels of labile iron and lipid peroxidation products in all tissues of male and female rats. The findings suggest that dietary vitamin E may protect against oxidative tissue damage by reducing the generation and/or level of superoxide, which in turn attenuates the release of iron from its protein complexes. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biochem Mol Toxicol 19:298-303, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/jbt.20094
Received: 25 April 2005; Revised: 31 May 2005; Accepted: 31 May 2005

Do not ignore this extremely important supplement. Recommended daily dose for thal majors is 600-1000 IU natural vitamin E daily. Not only does vitamin E protect against the oxidating effects of iron, it also helps to prevent the formation of the superoxides which can release iron in the first place.

Dear Andy,
Oops! I have been giving my child vit E for a year now but not at this dose . More like 40IU. What is the right dose for a 12.6 kg two year old?
Zahra

Hi Zahra
Even I was thinking on the same line . I have been giving my son 100 IU for the past 1.6 years.

maha

The dose I spoke of is the adult dose. 100 IU daily would be a good dose for a small child. I would suggest raising this to 200 IU daily once the child is in the 6-8 year old range and 400 IU at age 12. Do not use synthetic vitamin E. Doses of more than 100 IU of synthetic E may not be safe for anyone, taken long term.

Actually my son is taking 400 mg of natural vitamin E alternating days. He is 7.5 years old and has been taking it for the last two years

Manal

HI   ANDY
         Vit  E  am  using  is  synthetic    i  want  to  quit  it.Kindly  prescribe  the  natural  vit  E tablet   which  is  easily    available   in  Pakistan.   
Komal

Komal,

Since you are in Karachi,you can buy natural vitamin E softgels by name  of Tokosvit,they are not mixed tocopherol but they are natural.

Zaini.