Vitamin could protect diabetic hearts

Some 1.4m people in the UK have been diagnosed with diabetes

People with diabetes can reduce the risk of developing heart disease or having a stroke by taking vitamin E, doctors have found.

A study carried out at the University of Texas found that the vitamin can help to reduce the risk of developing some of the complications associated with Type II diabetes.

People with Type II or non-insulin dependent diabetes do not need to take insulin injections unlike those with Type I diabetes.

They can usually control the disease by maintaining a healthy diet. However, the main cause of death among people with non-insulin dependant diabetes are problems like heart attacks or strokes.

Irregularities or inflammation of the blood cells of people with non-insulin diabetes puts them at greater risk of these complications.

This is the first study that shows that vitamin E has anti-inflammatory effects on diabetic patients

Dr Ishwarlal Jialal, University of Texas

But the study by researchers at the UT Southwestern Medical Center found that this inflammation can be reversed with vitamin E.

Doctors at the centre gave daily doses of 1,200 international units of natural vitamin E to diabetics over a three month period.

At the end of the period, they found that the vitamin had succeeded in reducing inflammation of blood cells in people with Type II diabetes.

Fighting disease

Dr Ishwarlal Jialal, professor of pathology and internal medicine at the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, said the finding could help to fight vascular disease among diabetics.

"This is the first study that shows that vitamin E has anti-inflammatory effects on diabetic patients," he said.

"It could be a further therapy to prevent vascular complications in diabetes since inflammation seems to be critical as a causative factor in diabetic vascular disease."

The study is published in the latest issue of Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association.