Vitamin E can enhance the immune response in healthy older people, a recent study by NOHA speaker Jeffrey B. Blumberg, PhD, and colleagues indicated. For 30 days, 32 healthy older adults staying in a metabolic research unit received vitamin E or a placebo. Neither the participants nor the researchers knew whether or not each participant was receiving vitamin E. Compared to those receiving the placebo, blood and skin tests showed statistically significant improvements in the immune response for those receiving vitamin E.

Dr. Blumberg is a professor in the school of Nutrition at Tufts University, a Fellow of the American College of Nutrition, and chief of the antioxidants Research Laboratory, Human Research Center on Aging, at the United States Department of Agriculture.

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¹Meydani, S.N., M.P. Barklund, S. Liu, M. Meydani, R.A. Miller, J.G. Cannon, F.D. Morrow, R. Rockland, and J.B. Blumberg, "Vitamin E supplementation enhances cell-mediated immunity in healthy elderly subjects," American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 52:557-63,1900.

Article from NOHA NEWS, Vol. XVII, No. 2, Spring 1992, page 1.