Vitamin E identified as potential weapon against obesity

A potential new way to fight obesity-related illness has been uncovered. Implications of the findings could have a direct impact on those at potential risk for developing obesity-related liver disease in their lifetime.
The research team  stumbled upon the findings entirely by accident. While studying the effect of vitamin E deficiency on the central nervous system, they used liver tissue to practice  surgical techniques.
To the team’s surprise, they realized that the mice were in fact in the advanced stages of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Known as NASH for short, it’s a common complication of obesity characterized by fat accumulation, oxidative stress and inflammation in the liver. It is
the most severe form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and is a major cause of tissue scarring known as cirrhosis that leads to liver failure and may progress to liver cancer.
An essential antioxidant, vitamin E had been shown by recent studies to alleviate some symptoms of NASH in human patients, suggesting that there is a link between adequate vitamin E levels and liver disease.
To test this hypothesis, the team studied a mouse that was engineered to lack a protein that regulates the levels of vitamin E in the body.
As expected, they observed increased oxidative stress, fat deposition and other signs of liver injury in the mice. Importantly.
“supplementation with vitamin E averted the majority of NASH-related symptoms in these animals, confirming the relationship between vitamin E deficiency and liver disease.”
The precise effects of vitamin E on health have previously been difficult to ascertain, though its antioxidative properties were suggested to offer some protection from a variety of well-known maladies, including heart disease, cancer and neurological diseases
such as Alzheimer’s and Lou Gehrig’s disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS).
The findings may have a significant impact on public health as the vast majority of adults may  not consume the amount of vitamin E recommended by the National Institute of Medicine.
For adults, the recommended dietary allowance of vitamin E is 15 milligrams a day. Vegetable oils, nuts and seeds, leafy greens and fortified cereals commonly contain vitamin E. “Simple and affordable dietary intervention may benefit people at risk for this debilitating disease,” Manor says.
There is currently no treatment for NASH, making it one of the most common reasons for liver transplantation. Manor also points out that “NASH piggybacks on the two great epidemics of our time: obesity and Type 2 diabetes.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity affects more than one-third of adults and one-sixth of children in the U.S., while nearly one in 10 Americans today suffers from diabetes, rates that have been climbing over the past two decades. Significance of the findings is not only the possibility that they will aid those who are currently sick but that they may also “affect many people who are presently healthy, but are at risk for becoming obese or diabetic in the future.