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Marathon runners boosted by new vitamin research

It is a well know fact among health professionals in the sporting community that prolonged strenuous exercise can cause oxidative stress, resulting in DNA damage.

Now new research has shown that ultramarathon runners who supplemented with vitamins C and E for six weeks prior to their races totally avoided some of the adverse effects otherwise associated with extreme exercise.

Conducted by the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University in the USA, the research shows that regular use of natural health supplements can deliver significant health benefits to long-distance runners.

“I think it’s pretty safe to say that marathon runners should absolutely be taking supplements of vitamin E,�?said researcher Maret G. Traber.

In the study, 22 runners doing a 50km ultramarathon received either a placebo or antioxidant vitamins (vitamin C 1000mg and vitamin E 300mg).

Following the race, analysis showed significant increase in lipid peroxidation in the placebo group but the runners taking vitamins C and E were comparatively normal.

The acute oxidative and inflammatory stress responses often found after vigorous aerobic exercise are similar to the stress responses seen after acute events such as heart attack, stroke, and surgery.

As such, results from this research suggests possible efficacy of these supplements for use in relation to these other chronic diseases

http://naturalhealth.ninemsn.com.au/news/news_detail.asp?cat=105&art=878

Vitamin E and depression

Vitamin E levels appear to be lower in people with depression.

Previous research seems to indicate an association between oxidative stress and depression. Alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) is a fat-soluble antioxidant vitamin which is important as a defence against cell damage. It is thought that patients suffering depression may have low levels of vitamin E due to either a lack of dietary intake of vitamin E or from another factor associated with depression.

AJ Owen and colleagues from the University of Wollongong examined the relationship between vitamin E blood levels, dietary vitamin E intake and depression.

Forty nine depressed subjects (29 females and 20 males) were assessed. Diet history and blood tests were obtained and the Beck Depression Inventory scale (BDI) was used to determine levels of depression. The vitamin E levels of the 49 depressed subjects were compared with those of healthy Australians from a previous study.

The research team found that the depressed subjects had significantly lower blood vitamin E levels than healthy Australians and this was inversely related to the depression scores.

That is, subjects with high depression scores had the lowest levels of vitamin E.

It was found through the diet analysis that 89% of subjects met or exceeded the recommended dietary intake of vitamin E (RDI 8mg).

Interestingly, the dietary intake was not related to the level of vitamin E in the blood. Owen and the research team “suggest that lower plasma levels of vitamin E are less likely to be due to poor diet and may be due to some other factor associated with major depression. Further research is needed to determine whether low plasma vitamin E might be reflective of increased oxidative stress in major depression.�?

http://naturalhealth.ninemsn.com.au/news/news_detail.asp?cat=114&art=937

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