This complete review of clinical and preclinical evidence for the use of vitamin E in management of osteoarthritis (OA) was published in 2018. Preclinical cellular studies showed that vitamin E mitigated oxidative stress in damage invoked by mechanical stress or free radicals. This was also seen in animal studies, suggesting that vitamin E treatment prevented cartilage degeneration. Further patients with OA were observed to have lower circulating or synovial vitamin E compared to controls. Observational studies also demonstrated that vitamin E was related to induction or progression of OA in the general population. The reviewers also found that the different isomers had varying anti-osteoarthritic effects- thus a complete complex is likely more appropriate.
References:
Chin KY, Ima-Nirwana S. The Role of Vitamin E in Preventing and Treating Osteoarthritis – A Review of the Current Evidence. Front Pharmacol. 2018;9:946. Published 2018 Aug 21. doi:10.3389/fphar.2018.00946 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30186176/
