Vitamin E Supplements Can Cause Osteoporosis

Vitamin E is a known antioxidant with a great variety of health benefits. It is a vital element for our skin health that has amazing rejuvenating benefits for skin. It protects us against such ailments as asthma, cardiovascular diseases, brain disorders, eye irritation, menstrual irregularities, and many more. Vitamin E is also recognized as an effective natural solution to slow down the activities of free radicals and prevent negative processes in the body related to aging. That is why a great deal of people is using various natural vitamin E supplements to support their health and prevent many common health condition. Unfortunately, according to the recent findings, using this type of supplements can be linked to weakened bones and cause osteoporosis.

A group of scientists at Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan, came up with such conclusions earlier this spring. Japanese scientists led by Shu Takeda carried out a series of experiments involving giving large doses of vitamin E to a group of mice. At that, increased doses of this vitamin were specially calculated for the levels similar to the ones we can receive from the most popular vitamin E supplements. It became apparent that after just 8 weeks of such ‘treatment’, mice developed strong signs of bone density loss for as much as 20 per cent, which brings to significant loss of bone mass and can cause osteoporosis. At the same time, in other mice that had certain vitamin E deficiency, bone density was much higher.

“It is possible that with the volume (of vitamin E) contained in health supplements, bones may become fragile,” a study leader Shu Takeda of Keyo University, said to the mass media. He explained that increased vitamin E consumption can be linked to faster formation of bone-degrading osteoclast cells and cause osteoporosis. The findings turned out to be quite surprising because some previous scientific experiments resulted in the opposite conclusions. It was suggested before that using vitamin E and vitamin E supplements can help maintaining a healthy balance between osteolcast cells and osteoblast (bone forming) cells, providing a good environment for normal development of our bone cells and normal bone density.

Osteoporosis is a very common generative bone condition which affects mainly aging women (but sometimes men can be affected by it, too). There is a number of risk factors which can be linked to and cause osteoporosis, including age, family history, sedentary lifestyle, substance abuse and other bad habits, hormonal shifts, thyroid problems, eating disorders, taking certain medications, low calcium intake, and many more. Osteoporosis can bring to serious complications which can be dangerous or even life-threatening, especially for all aging people, that is why in today’s mass media quite a lot of information related to osteoporosis risks and prevention is available to all of us. Read more about this study that has found connections between consuming vitamin E supplements and bone density loss in one of the latest issues of the journal Natural Medicine.

Author Info: Hi! My name is Carla and I am a 5th year medical student at HYMS. I am interested in alternative medicine and I have done months researching the topic of herbal medicine. Besides, I like interviewing people and learning more about their experiences with one or another type of herbal treatments. I am willing to contribute to this site with my knowledge, and I would be happy to help you out to the best of my ability with any specific questions or problems related to alternative medicine.

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