Tocotrienol-rich vitamin E may help slow the progression of diabetic retinopathy, says recent study

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A recently published study¹ found that tocotrienol-rich vitamin E may help slow the progression of diabetic retinopahthy. In the multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 55 participants with early, non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy received either 200 mg of Tocotrienol-rich vitamin E twice daily, or placebo twice daily for 12 months. The active treatment used by researchers was EVNol SupraBio from ExcelVite (Chemor, Malaysia). Researcher investigated the progression of retinal microhaemorrhages and diabetic macular oedema in subjects at baseline, two months, six months, and 12 months of treatment. They also analyzed Serum vascular endothelial growth factor, which reflects on the angiogenesis process in the eye, at similar time points.

Results showed that after 12 months of treatment, the placebo group saw a significant increase of 23.42% in retinal microhaemorrhages while subject taking the tocotrienol-rich vitamin E saw no significant changes. Additionally, the tocotrienol-rich vitamin E group also saw a significant decrease of 48.38% in diabetic macular oedema over the 12 month period, while the placebo group saw no significant changes.

“Blindness is the most feared complication in people with diabetic retinopathy and thus it often leads to emotional distress and mental health concerns. Notwithstanding, it is fortunate that the risk of vision loss can be greatly reduced by timely medical management and treatment,” said Sien Yei Liew, PhD, head of ARD (Applications, Research & Development) at ExcelVite, in a press release. “We believe our bioenhanced mixed-tocotrienol complex EVNol SupraBio is an effective adjunct therapy to support diabetic retinopathy or at least slow down its progression to a certain extent. Neither short-term nor long-term supplementation of EVNol SupraBio appears to adversely affect human health as ascertained in the research studies. Not only diabetic retinopathy, EVNol SupraBio was also being extensively studied in other diabetic complications such as diabetic neuropathy and nephropathy.”

Reference

1. Ho JI et al. “The effects of vitamin E on non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetes mellitus: Are they sustainable with 12 months of therapy.” SAGE Open Medicine, vol. 10 (2022): 1-18, https://doi.org/10.1177%2F20503121221095324