Vitamin E May Relieve Liver Disease Symptoms

A potential new way to combat obesity-related diseases has been discovered. Thanks to serendipitous research at Case Western University School of Medicine. Collaborators at Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Cornell University discovered that vitamin E is an essential nutrient that can relieve symptoms of liver diseases caused by obesity.

Liver disease

“The implications of our findings could have a direct impact on the lives of the approximately 63 million Americans who are potentially at risk of developing obesity-related liver disease in their lifetime,” says Danny Manor. An associate professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Manor and his colleague Varsha Thakur presented their findings at the annual meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry. It was held in conjunction with the Experimental Biology 2013 meeting in Boston.

The investigation

As is often the case in science, the research team stumbled upon the conclusions by accident. While studying the effect of vitamin E deficiency on the central nervous system. “Liver tissue was used to practice our surgical techniques,” Manor recalled. To the team’s surprise, the mice were in the advanced stages of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Known as NASH for short. It is a common complication of obesity characterized by fat accumulation, oxidative stress and inflammation in the liver. It is the most severe form of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and is a major cause of tissue scarring known as cirrhosis which leads to liver failure and can progress to liver cancer. It had been shown by recent studies that vitamin E serves to alleviate some symptoms of NASH in human patients. This suggests that there is a relationship between adequate levels of vitamin E and liver disease. To test this hypothesis, the team studied a mouse that was engineered to lack a protein that regulates vitamin E levels in the body. As expected, increased oxidative stress, fat deposition and other signs of liver injury were observed in the mice. Importantly, “vitamin E supplementation prevents most NASH-related symptoms in these animals, confirming the relationship between vitamin E deficiency and liver disease.” The precise health effects of vitamin E have previously been difficult to determine. Although its antioxidant properties have been suggested to offer some protection against a variety of known diseases. Including heart diseases, cancer, and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Lou Gehrig’s disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS).

Vitamin E consumption

“These findings can have a significant impact on public health,” says Manor. “The vast majority of adults in the United States do not consume the recommended amount of vitamin E.” For adults, the recommended daily amount of vitamin E is 15 milligrams per day. vegetable oils, nuts and seeds, leafy green vegetables, and fortified cereals commonly contain vitamin E. “Simple, affordable dietary intervention can benefit people at risk for this debilitating disease,” says Manor. There is currently no treatment for NASH. Making it one of the most common reasons for a liver transplant. Manor also notes that “NASH piggybacks on the two great epidemics of our time: obesity and type 2 diabetes.”

The importance of the study

Obesity affects more than a third of adults and a sixth of children in the US, while almost one in 10 Americans today suffers from diabetes. Rates have been rising over the past two decades. For Manor, the importance of his group’s findings is not only the possibility that they will help those who are currently sick, but that they may also “affect many people who are healthy, but are at risk of becoming obese or diabetic in the future.” Manor believes his group’s discovery will be key to determining the molecular details of NASH itself. “Right now, we don’t really understand how NASH progresses from mild liver damage to severe liver failure,” he said. “Our results will allow us to dissect the different stages of this progression. As well as study how oxidative stress affects liver function in general. Giving possible insights into other related disorders.”