In a recent study, extra vitamin E helped mice stay protected from a bacterial infection that causes pneumonia, and researchers are hopeful these findings can be extrapolated out to humans.
A research team from Tufts University gave older male mice different levels of vitamin E over a four-week period: one group got the recommended amount of vitamin E while another group was fed more vitamin E than is recommended. Then the team studied the mice before and after they were infected with the pneumonia-causing bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae.
The mice that were fed elevated levels were more resistant to the bacteria than those in the control group. They had fewer bacteria in their lungs and fewer white blood cells than the mice that had the normal level of vitamin E and were able to control the infection as efficiently as young mice.
"Approximately 900,000 Americans get pneumonia each year; as many as 400,000 patients are hospitalized; and approximately 50,000 die. Vaccines are available but cannot protect everyone, and antibiotic resistance is a problem, particularly for older adults with pneumonia. Our work provides a better understanding of how nutrition can play a role in modulating how the immune system responds to infection," said co-senior study author John M. Leong, MD, PhD, professor and chair of the department of molecular biology and microbiology at Tufts University School of Medicine.
More research is needed to determine if vitamin E can help elderly people fight this type of pneumonia.