Signs and symptoms of Vitamin E deficiency

Vitamin E deficiency is extremely rare in humans as it is unlikely caused by a diet consisting of low vitamin E. Vitamin E deficiency occurs only as a result of genetic abnormalities in α–tocopherol transfer protein, as a result of various fat malabsorption syndromes, or as a result of protein-energy malnutrition.

Vitamin E deficiency signs include ataxia, retinopathy, peripheral neuropathy, skeletal myopathy, and immune response impairment. Crohn’s disease and cystic fibrosis patients require water-soluble vitamin E due to their inability to secrete bile.

The primary human vitamin E deficiency symptom is a peripheral neuropathy characterized by the degeneration of the large-caliber axons in the sensory neurons.

Vitamin E deficiency also causes ataxia and vitamin E deficiency (AVED), an inherited disorder, where the liver’s α-tocopherol transfer protein (α-TTP) is defective or absent. The lack of functional a-TTP results in the rapid depletion of plasma a-tocopherol, thereby demonstrating that a-TTP is needed to maintain plasma a-tocopherol concentrations. AVED patients suffer from nerve damage and lose the ability to walk.

As the vitamin E deficiency continues over time, the neurologic defects become so severe such that they that result in ataxia. Other symptoms include increased erythrocyte fragility, and increased ethane and pentane production.
Signs and symptoms of Vitamin E deficiency

What is Vitamin E?

What is Vitamin E?
Vitamin E, of which there are four different forms (the tocopherol), is fat soluble. The tocopherols have the same name except with the prefix alpha-, beta-, gamma-, and delta- (the first four letters of the Greek alphabet). The four compounds are closely related, with some difference in the molecular weight and in the position and number of certain molecular constituents.




Function of Vitamin E
The vitamin is an antioxidant that serves to prevent the oxidation of some body components, such as unsaturated fatty acids, and is necessary for reproduction. Almost all foods contain some vitamin E, although corn oil, cottonseed oil, margarine, and peanut oil are especially good sources of this vitamin.


Vitamin E deficiency
While the symptoms for vitamin E deficiency in humans are not clearly established, experiments with various animals have shown that vitamin E deficiency has an adverse effect on reproduction with apparent irreversible injury to the germinal epithelium. Other symptoms noted in animal studies include injury to the central nervous system, growth retardation, muscular dystrophy, and interference with normal heart action.
What is Vitamin E?