Review Article Vitamin E in Sarcopenia: Current Evidences on Its Role in Prevention and Treatment

Copyright © 2014 Shy Cian Khor et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Sarcopenia is a geriatric syndrome that is characterized by gradual loss of muscle mass and strength with increasing age. Although the underlying mechanism is still unknown, the contribution of increased oxidative stress in advanced age has been recognized as one of the risk factors of sarcopenia.Thus, eliminating reactive oxygen species (ROS) can be a strategy to combat sarcopenia. In this review, we discuss the potential role of vitamin E in the prevention and treatment of sarcopenia. Vitamin E is a lipid soluble vitamin, with potent antioxidant properties and current evidence suggesting a role in themodulation of signaling pathways. Previous studies have shown its possible beneficial effects on aging and age-related diseases. Although there are evidences suggesting an association between vitamin E and muscle health, they are still inconclusive compared to other more extensively studied chronic diseases such as neurodegenerative diseases and cardiovascular diseases.Therefore, we reviewed the role of vitamin E and its potential protective mechanisms on muscle health based on previous and current in vitro and in vivo studies. 1. Sarcopenia: A Progressive Geriatric Syndrome The term “sarcopenia ” has been used to describe the pro-gressive loss of muscle structure and function which i