Effects of palm olein tocopherol and tocotrienol on lipid peroxidation, lipid profiles and glycemic control in non-insulin diabetes mellitus patients

Abstract

Refined palm oil, palm olein contains very low amount of vitamin-E (0.01%, w w ) as compared to its tocotrienol-rich extract, Palmvitee, which contains about 20 % ( w w ) of vitamin E. The effects of palm olein intake on serum lipid peroxides or malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, lipid profiles and glycemic control of 32 non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus patients were compared to those of Palmvitee using a double-blind study. Patients took six 300 mg capsules of Palmvitee or palm olein daily for 60 days, underwent a washout period of 60 days, crossed-over in treatments and continued for another 60 days. Subjects who consumed Palmvitee showed significant increase in tocopherol and tocotrienol (p=0.004 and p=0.02 respectively), while subjects who consumed palm olein showed increase only in tocopherol levels (p=0.04). MDA levels on day 60 in patients given palm olein were inversely correlated with tocopherol levels (r=-0.644, p=0.007). MDA (mean ± SEM) declined significantly (p < 0.001) following palm olein or Palmvitee intake, 1.33 ± 0.1 versus 1.07 ± 0.07 and 1.47 ± 0.09 versus 1.13 ± 0.06 nmol/l respectively. The decline continued to be significant (p < 0.001) during the washout period, then showed no further change thereafter. Neither palm olein nor Palmvitee hcaused significant changes in total cholesterol, HDL-chol, triglyceride, LDL-chol and glycemic control of the patients. This study showed that the small amount of vitamin E present in palm olein, was sufficient to significantly reduce lipid peroxidation and that increased intake of the vitamin, as in Palmvitee, did not cause further reduction in the peroxide levels.