Vitamin E and Diabetes

Vitamin E und Diabetes Life expectancy of the diabetic has not been reduced so much by acute complications of insulin deficiency but rather through the development of vasculopathies, diseases of large and small vessels. The reasons for this disease are not well understood. However, recent studies demonstrate that protein, lipid, and nucleic acids become damaged in diabetes oxidatively. Therefore, it will be discussed in the following whether an increased “oxidative stress” can explain the development of vascular complications in diabetes and which factors might be responsible for the augmented “oxidative stress” or the reduced capacity to compensate “oxidative stress”. In line with the hypothesis that “oxidative stress” plays a significant role for development of vasculopathies in diabetes preliminary data suggest that the development of vascular complications in diabetes might be retarted or prevented by antioxidative treatment (Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Glutathion).