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Vitamin E can weaken bones
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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A team of scientists led by Shu Takeda from Keio University in Tokyo (Japan) believes that vitamin E can weaken bones. This has been confirmed by experiments on mice.
As the researchers explain, bone strength is maintained by maintaining a balance between bone-forming cells (osteoblasts) and bone-destroying cells (osteoclasts). While previous studies have shown that vitamin E may be beneficial for bone health, the Japanese scientists found the opposite: the substance appears to stimulate osteoclast production.
It turns out that mice with a vitamin E deficiency have heavier bones because they have reduced bone loss. But healthy rodents fed a diet with vitamin E in amounts typical of human dietary supplements have much lower bone mass.
The American colleagues of the authors of the work agree with the proposed hypothesis that vitamin E provokes increased production of cells that destroy bone tissue. But it is too early to recommend refusing to take vitamin E supplements. Scientists will have to conduct a series of experiments to better understand how this substance affects the human skeleton, as well as to empirically assess the risks and benefits of its consumption.
The results of the study were published in the journal Nature Medicine.
Let's remember that vitamin E is found in foods such as vegetable oils, cereals, nuts, green vegetables and eggs. It is rich in antioxidants that protect the human body from diseases by preventing cell damage from free radicals - harmful molecules that attack cells.