A recent study from the Baker Institute found vitamin E could be used to save muscle from dying during a heart attack.
The finding showed the potential of the therapy with vitamin E in patients with heart attacks, and may ultimately offer an effective low-cost treatment.
Heart attack is a leading cause of death worldwide and new treatment strategies are highly sought-after. Unfortunately, lasting damage to the heart muscle is not uncommon following such an event.
One of the most effective anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory agents is vitamin E and its derivatives.
Interestingly, Vitamin E has been found unsuccessful in preventing heart attacks but has not been investigated for actually treating heart attacks.
In the study, the treatment regime reflects clinical conditions, where patients could receive their first application of vitamin E in the ambulance or upon their arrival in the emergency department, before reopening and stenting the blocked vessel and the following days in the hospital before discharge.
The team suggested they would test an already approved formulation of Vitamin E in patients admitted with a heart attack. They planned to prove that heart function is preserved using sensitive magnetic resonance imaging.
As there is currently no drug available that can reduce the cardiac damage caused by an overshooting inflammation after the reopening of a blocked coronary artery, the potential impact of our finding on cardiovascular health would be significant.
The doses of vitamin E given in this study are approved to be safe by the European Commission Scientific Committee on Food.
The study was published in Redox Biology and conducted by Professor Karlheinz Peter et al.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about how drinking milk affects risks of heart disease and cancer, and herbal supplements could harm your heart rhythm.
For more information about muscle health, please see recent studies about cause of weak muscles in older people, and Krill oil could improve muscle health in older people.
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