Vitamin E Shields Lungs from Smog Effects
Smog consists of a high concentration of ozone, O3, which causes many people to have shortness of breath or wheezing. Chronic exposure to ozone raises a person’s risk to develop fatal lung disease according to a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine. There is hope, however, as this week researchers reported that diet can affect how lungs respond to specific air pollutions such as ozone.
Specifically, gamma-tocopherol, or the other vitamin E, can help guard lungs from the affects of smog. This is part of a family of tocopherols, organic compounds that contain methylated phenols and are lipid-soluble antioxidants. Vegetable oil, fish, and whole grains are some sources of vitamin E. Vitamin E itself actually contains a mix of tocopherols and tocotrienols with gamma-tocopherol as the top compound that fights inflammation. Since the ozone in smog triggers inflammation that damages lung tissue, this is key.
In a study conducted by James Wagner of Michigan State University, rats were given a large dose of gamma-tocopherol which prevented aggravation caused by ozone of the following: allergic airway disease, mucus production, nasal allergy symptoms, and asthma. In the rats that had allergic airway disease, the large amount of gamma-tocopherol prevented almost all of the respiratory symptoms that ozone typically worsens.
The danger of allergic airway disease is inflammation. When inflammatory eosinophils, a specific type of white blood cell, enter the tissue just beneath the surface of airways the tissue gets extremely inflamed.
Another study conducted by Wagner consisted of one group of animals exposed only to ozone and one group exposed to high amounts of endotoxin, a toxin released by bacteria when it lysed, then exposed to ozone. In these animals lungs’, neutrophils, another type of white blood cell, infiltrated the tissue of the airways instead of the eosinophils. When those animals were treated with 30 mg each day of gamma-tocopherol in the four days before the ozone but after the endotoxin exposure, the neutrophil infiltration seen was almost equivalent to the inflammation seen in the animals that were exposed to the ozone alone.
Qing Jiang of Purdue University and Bruce Ames of Children’s Hospital of Oakland Research Institute have found that gamma-tocopherol inhibits key enzymes that start a cascade to allow inflammation. These enzymes are cyclooxygenases 1 and 2, called COX-1 and COX-2. As some may know, inhibition of these enzymes is how ibuprofen stops inflammation.
However, Wagner’s research found that diet alone could not provide the 0.7 to 2 grams of gamma-tocopherol per day needed to produce the same results. Soybean oil, a rich source of gamma-tocopherol, provides only 80 mg of the compound per 100 g of oil. Thus, if lung protection is to be achieved, it must be through dietary supplements.
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/41877/title/Science_%2B_the_Public__Vitamin_E_shields_lungs_from_smog_effects
Specifically, gamma-tocopherol, or the other vitamin E, can help guard lungs from the affects of smog. This is part of a family of tocopherols, organic compounds that contain methylated phenols and are lipid-soluble antioxidants. Vegetable oil, fish, and whole grains are some sources of vitamin E. Vitamin E itself actually contains a mix of tocopherols and tocotrienols with gamma-tocopherol as the top compound that fights inflammation. Since the ozone in smog triggers inflammation that damages lung tissue, this is key.
In a study conducted by James Wagner of Michigan State University, rats were given a large dose of gamma-tocopherol which prevented aggravation caused by ozone of the following: allergic airway disease, mucus production, nasal allergy symptoms, and asthma. In the rats that had allergic airway disease, the large amount of gamma-tocopherol prevented almost all of the respiratory symptoms that ozone typically worsens.
The danger of allergic airway disease is inflammation. When inflammatory eosinophils, a specific type of white blood cell, enter the tissue just beneath the surface of airways the tissue gets extremely inflamed.
Another study conducted by Wagner consisted of one group of animals exposed only to ozone and one group exposed to high amounts of endotoxin, a toxin released by bacteria when it lysed, then exposed to ozone. In these animals lungs’, neutrophils, another type of white blood cell, infiltrated the tissue of the airways instead of the eosinophils. When those animals were treated with 30 mg each day of gamma-tocopherol in the four days before the ozone but after the endotoxin exposure, the neutrophil infiltration seen was almost equivalent to the inflammation seen in the animals that were exposed to the ozone alone.
Qing Jiang of Purdue University and Bruce Ames of Children’s Hospital of Oakland Research Institute have found that gamma-tocopherol inhibits key enzymes that start a cascade to allow inflammation. These enzymes are cyclooxygenases 1 and 2, called COX-1 and COX-2. As some may know, inhibition of these enzymes is how ibuprofen stops inflammation.
However, Wagner’s research found that diet alone could not provide the 0.7 to 2 grams of gamma-tocopherol per day needed to produce the same results. Soybean oil, a rich source of gamma-tocopherol, provides only 80 mg of the compound per 100 g of oil. Thus, if lung protection is to be achieved, it must be through dietary supplements.
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/41877/title/Science_%2B_the_Public__Vitamin_E_shields_lungs_from_smog_effects
posted by Brooke at 6:22 PM
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