Effect of vitamin E supplementation on

ABSTRACT The effect of megadoses of vitamin E was studied in 13 adult males and five young boys. Three hundred milligrams of vitamin E as dl-a-tocopheryl acetate, given daily for a period of 3 weeks produced a significant depression in the bactericidal activity of the leukocyte and the mitogen induced lymphocyte transformation. The delayed hypersensitivity of the skin to phytohemagglutinin was, however, not affected by the supplementation. The implication of the study and the discrepancy between the in vitro and the in vivo results of the cell-mediated immunity are discussed. Am. J. C/in. Nutr. 33: 606-608, 1980. Vitamin E is an antioxident and plays an important structural role in various biological membranes (1). Vitamin E deficiency as a specific clinical entity is unknown except for its role in anemia of premature infants. There have been claims for the therapeutic efficacy of vitamin E in a variety of clinical disorders. These claims are yet to be substantiated (2)