Vitamin E Tocotrienols May Reduce Cholesterol
Lee Swanson Research Update
According to findings published in Functional Foods in Health and Disease, an open-access online journal, 300 mg per day of a tocotrienol-rich extract for six months may reduce LDL cholesterol levels by 17% and total cholesterol by 11%.
"Lowering of the total and LDL cholesterol levels in hypercholesterolemic subjects could be achieved through supplementation with mixed tocotrienols, and was accompanied by a significantly higher serum tocotrienol concentration relative to the tocopherol level," write the researchers, led by Professor KH Yen from the University of Science Malaysia. The study used Tocomin® tocotrienols.
"The cholesterol-lowering activity can be attained after four months of supplementation," they added.
Tocotrienols are forms of vitamin E that have traditionally been in the shadow of the more popular vitamin E forms called tocopherols.
Overall, there are eight forms of vitamin E: four tocopherols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta) and four tocotrienols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta). Alpha-tocopherol is the main source found in supplements and in the European diet, while gamma-tocopherol is the most common form in the American diet.
One of the earliest reports to link tocotrienols to heart health—via cholesterol reduction—was a paper by Dr. Asaf Qureshi at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Writing in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (Vol. 261, pp. 10544-10550) in 1986, Dr. Qureshi and his co-workers reported that a cereal’s ability to reduce cholesterol concentrations was directly linked to its tocotrienol concentrations, with barley and oats coming out on top, followed by rye, wheat and then corn.
In the current study, Professor Yuen and his co-workers recruited 32 healthy individuals with high blood cholesterol levels. The participants were randomly assigned to receive either placebo (soybean oil) or the Tocomin® tocotrienols, providing a daily dose of 300 mg of mixed tocotrienols.
After four months of supplementation, the researchers noted a decrease in total cholesterol of nine percent, with the decrease recorded as 11% after six months. In addition, LDL cholesterol levels were decreased by 13% and 17.5% after four and six months of supplementation, respectively. No changes were observed in the placebo group.
Functional Foods in Health and Disease 3:106-117, 2011
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- http://www.swansonvitamins.com/health-library/articles/cholesterol-support/vitamin-e-tocotrienols-may-reduce-cholesterol.html?SoureCode=INTHIR413
May, 2011