Table 2.

Effect of vitamin E supplementation on infectious diseases in animals and humans

Subjects	Age	Dose and duration of supplementation	Infection organism and route of infection	Results: effects of vitamin E supplementation	Reference
Nursing home residents	>65	200 IU/day for 1 year	Natural incidence of respiratory infections	Fewer numbers of subjects with all and upper respiratory infections Lower incidence of common cold No effect on lower respiratory infection	Meydani et al. (84)
Male smokers	50‐69 years	50 mg/day for median of 6.1 years	Natural incidence of pneumonia	No overall effect on the incidence of pneumonia. Among the subjects who had initiated smoking at a later age (>21)	Hemila et al. (105)
Non‐institutionalized individuals	>60 years	200 mg/day for median of 441 days	Natural incidence and severity of self‐reported acute respiratory tract infections	No effect on incidence and severity of acute respiratory tract infections	Graat et al. (96)
Male smokers		50 mg/day during 4‐year follow‐up	Natural incidence of common cold episodes	Lower incidence of common cold. Reduction was greatest among older city dwellers who smoked fewer than 15 cigarettes per day	Hemila et al. (95)
Mice (C57BL)	22 months	500 mg/kg diet for 6 weeks	Influenza by nasal inoculation	Lower viral titer	Heyek et al. (64)
Mice (C57BL)	22 months	500 mg/kg diet for 6 weeks	Influenza by nasal inoculation	Lower viral titer Higher IL‐2 and IFN‐γ production	Han et al. (65)