Vitamin E shows possible promise in easing chronic in...(scle at the amount of oxidized proteins....)

"Oxidation can be detrimental, and in muscle has been associated with reduced muscle strength," Huey said.

Among the team's major findings, in terms of function, Huey said, was that "there was a significant reduction in the amount of LPS-induced oxidized proteins with Vitamin E compared to placebo."

"So that's a good thing," she said. "Potentially, if you reduce the oxidized proteins, that may correlate to increased muscle strength."

Additionally, the researchers' experiments yielded a significant decrease in two cytokines IL-6 and IL-1beta with Vitamin E, compared with the placebo.

That finding translates to somewhat mixed reviews.

"It's hard to say functionally what those cytokine changes might mean," Huey said. "IL-1beta is primarily a pro-inflammatory cytokine, so that could be a good thing especially in terms of cardiac function."

However, she said, "IL-6 can have both pro- or anti-inflammatory actions." She said that the literature has yielded some evidence pointing to the detrimental effects of chronic increases in IL-6. But the effects of acute increases in IL-6 in skeletal muscles which occur during exercise may be another story.

"Whether there's a difference between exercise-induced increases versus inflammation-induced increases in IL-6 is still highly debatable," she said.

Nonetheless, Huey said, the larger take-home message of the study, published in the December issue of the journal Experimental Physiology, is that Vitamin E "may be beneficial in individuals with chronic inflammation, such as the elderly or patients with type II diabetes or chronic heart failure."

While the Illinois research team's work provides a foundation for future investigations that could ultimately have positive outcomes for people afflicted with chronic skeletal or cardiac muscle inflammation, Huey cautioned that it is still far too soo
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