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THE VITAMIN E CONSUMPTION EFFECT ON MUSCLE DAMAGE AND OXIDATIVE STRESS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS OF RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIALS

EFEITO DA INGESTÃO DE VITAMINA E SOBRE OS DANOS MUSCULARES E O ESTRESSE OXIDATIVO: UMA REVISÃO SISTEMÁTICA COM META-ANÁLISE DE ENSAIOS CONTROLADOS RANDOMIZADOS

EFECTO DEL CONSUMO DE VITAMINA E SOBRE EL DAÑO MUSCULAR Y EL ESTRÉS OXIDATIVO: UNA REVISIÓN SISTEMÁTICA CON METAANÁLISIS DE ENSAYOS CONTROLADOS ALEATORIOS

ABSTRACT

Introduction:

Vitamin E supplementation may protect against exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD) through possible inhibition of free radical formation and cell membrane stabilization. However, there is no systematic review of this topic. This fact maintains academic stalemates that may have a resolution.

Objective:

This systematic review with meta-analysis aims to provide a comprehensive literature review on the hypothesis of the benefit of vitamin E supplementation on oxidative stress and muscle damage induced by aerobic exercise.

Methods:

A random-effects model was used, weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were applied to estimate the overall effect.

Results:

The results revealed a significant effect of vitamin E supplementation on reducing creatine kinase (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). In addition, a subgroup analysis resulted in a significant decrease in CK concentrations in trials with immediate and <24 hours post-exercise CK measurement; <1000 at daily vitamin E intake; ≤1 at weekly intake; 1 at six weeks and >6 weeks experimental duration, studies on aerobic exercise and training were part of the crossover study.

Conclusion:

Vitamin E can be seen as a priority agent for recovery from muscle damage. Evidence Level II; Therapeutic Studies – Investigating the results.

Keywords:
Vitamin E; Creatine Kinase; Lactate Dehydrogenase; Malondialdehyde; Meta-Analysis

RESUMO

Introdução:

A suplementação de vitamina E pode ter um efeito protetor contra danos musculares induzidos pelo exercício (EIMD) através da possível inibição da formação radical livre e estabilização da membrana celular. Todavia, não há uma revisão sistemática sobre esse tema. Tal fato mantém empasses acadêmicos que podem ter uma resolução.

Objetivo:

Esta revisão sistemática com meta-análise objetiva fornecer uma análise bibliográfica abrangente na hipótese do benefício na suplementação de vitaminas E sobre o estresse oxidativo e os danos musculares induzidos pelo pelo exercício aeróbico.

Métodos:

Foi utilizado um modelo com efeitos aleatórios, diferença média ponderada (ADM) e intervalo de confiança de 95% (IC) foram aplicados para estimar o efeito geral.

Resultados:

Os resultados revelaram um efeito significativo da suplementação de vitamina E na redução da creatina-quinase (CK) e lactato-desidrogenase (LDH). Além disso, uma análise do subgrupo resultou em uma diminuição significativa das concentrações de CK em ensaios com medição imediata e <24 horas de CK após o exercício; <1000 no consumo diário de vitamina E; ≤1 no consumo semanal; 1 em 6 semanas e >6 semanas de duração experimental, estudos sobre exercício aeróbico e treinamento fizeram parte do estudo cruzado.

Conclusão:

A vitamina E pode ser vista como um agente prioritário de recuperação de danos musculares. Nível de evidência II; Estudos Terapêuticos - Investigação de Resultados.

Descritores:
Vitamina E; Creatina Quinase; Lactato Desidrogenase; Malondialdeído; Metanálise

RESUMEN

Introducción:

La suplementación con vitamina E puede tener un efecto protector contra el daño muscular inducido por el ejercicio (EIMD) a través de la posible inhibición de la formación de radicales libres y la estabilización de la membrana celular. Sin embargo, no existe ninguna revisión sistemática sobre este tema. Este hecho mantiene un impasse académico que puede tener resolución.

Objetivo:

Esta revisión sistemática con meta-análisis tiene como objetivo proporcionar una amplia revisión de la literatura sobre la hipótesis del beneficio de la suplementación con vitamina E sobre el estrés oxidativo y el daño muscular inducido por el ejercicio aeróbico.

Métodos:

Se utilizó un modelo de efectos aleatorios, se aplicó la diferencia de medias ponderada (DMP) y el intervalo de confianza (IC) del 95% para estimar el efecto global.

Resultados:

Los resultados revelaron un efecto significativo de la suplementación con vitamina E en la reducción de la creatina quinasa (CK) y la lactato deshidrogenasa (LDH). Además, un análisis de subgrupos dio como resultado una disminución significativa de las concentraciones de CK en los ensayos con medición de CK inmediata y <24 horas después del ejercicio; <1000 en la ingesta diaria de vitamina E; ≤1 en la ingesta semanal; 1 en 6 semanas y >6 semanas de duración experimental, los estudios sobre el ejercicio aeróbico y el entrenamiento formaron parte del estudio cruzado.

Conclusión:

La vitamina E puede resultar un agente prioritario para la recuperación del daño muscular. Nivel de evidencia II; Estudios terapéuticos - Investigación de resultados.

Descriptores:
Vitamina E; Creatina Quinasa; Lactato Deshidrogenasa; Malondialdehído; Metaanálisis

INTRODUCTION:

Different types of exercise results in muscular dysfunction 11 Thiebaud RS, Yasuda T, Loenneke JP, Abe T. Effects of low-intensity concentric and eccentric exercise combined with blood flow restriction on indices of exercise-induced muscle damage. Interventional Medicine and Applied Science. 2013;5(2):53-9., increased muscle soreness lasting several days 22 Torres R, Pinho F, Duarte JA, Cabri JMH. Effect of single bout versus repeated bouts of stretching on muscle recovery following eccentric exercise. Journal of science and medicine in sport. 2013;16(6):583-8., and increased concentrations of myofiber proteins (creatine kinase (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)) in the blood) 33 Ra SG, Miyazaki T, Ishikura K, Nagayama H, Komine S, Nakata Y et al. Combined effect of branched-chain amino acids and taurine supplementation on delayed onset muscle soreness and muscle damage in high-intensity eccentric exercise. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. 2013;10(1):1-11.. Loss of muscle force in combination with increased muscle damage may have a detrimental effect on muscle function 44 Xu J, Fu SN, Zhou D, Huang C, Hug F. Relationship between pre-exercise muscle stiffness and muscle damage induced by eccentric exercise. European journal of sport science. 2019;19(4):508-16.. The effect of exercise training might require using antioxidant supplements to prevent muscle damage and oxidative stress. Some antioxidants have been introduced to protect the cells from free radicals such as vitamins C and E, carotenoids, and flavonoids 55 Dawson B, Henry GJ, Goodman C, Gillam I. Effect of Vitamin C and E supplementation on biochemical and ultrastructural indices of muscle damage after a 21 km run. International journal of sports medicine. 2002;23(01):10-5.77 Nieman DC, Capps CL, Capps CR, Shue Z, McBride JE. Effect of 4-week ingestion of tomato-based carotenoids on exercise-induced inflammation, muscle damage, and oxidative stress in endurance runners. International journal of sport nutrition and exercise metabolism. 2018;28(3):266-73.. Recent systematic review and meta-analysis have focused on nutritional interventions during recovery of exercise in an attempt to reduce muscle damage and impairments in muscle function 88 Rahimi MH, Shab-Bidar S, Mollahosseini M, Djafarian K. Branched-chain amino acid supplementation and exercise-induced muscle damage in exercise recovery: A meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. Nutrition. 2017;42:30-6.1010 Stepanyan V, Crowe M, Halegrahara N, Bowden B. Effects of vitamin E supplementation on exercise-induced oxidative stress: a meta-analysis. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. 2014;39(9):1029-37.. A previous meta-analysis with 6 studies carried out by Stepanyan et al. 1010 Stepanyan V, Crowe M, Halegrahara N, Bowden B. Effects of vitamin E supplementation on exercise-induced oxidative stress: a meta-analysis. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. 2014;39(9):1029-37., had assessed the effects of vitamins E supplementation on CK and MDA levels, which some studies did not investigate1111 Cannon JG, Orencole SF, Fielding RA, Meydani M, Meydani SN, Fiatarone MA et al. Acute phase response in exercise: interaction of age and vitamin E on neutrophils and muscle enzyme release. American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. 1990;259(6):R1214-9.1616 Buchman AL, Killip D, Ou CN, Rognerud CL, Pownall H, Dennis K et al. Short-term vitamin E supplementation before marathon running: a placebo-controlled trial. Nutrition. 1999;15(4):278-83., while others were conducted after this study 1313 Bataineh MF, Al-Nawaiseh AM, Taifour A, Judge LW. Dead Sea Marathon-Induced Muscle Damage and Acute Oral Vitamin E Supplementation. Journal of Exercise Physiology Online. 2017;20(3):1-13.,1717 Kashef M. Effect of vitamin E supplementation on delayed onset muscle soreness in young men. Journal of Physical Activity and Hormones. 2018;2(3):15-28.,1818 Santos S, Silva ET, Caris AV, Lira FS, Tufik S, Dos Santos RVT. Vitamin E supplementation inhibits muscle damage and inflammation after moderate exercise in hypoxia. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics. 2016;29(4):516-22.. Furthermore, LDH measurements were not examined in this paper.

In this field, all relevant studies have been included, as far as the quality of available data permits, and the effects of vitamins E on recovery following exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD) have been assessed in more detail than in the previous meta-analysis in 2013 1010 Stepanyan V, Crowe M, Halegrahara N, Bowden B. Effects of vitamin E supplementation on exercise-induced oxidative stress: a meta-analysis. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. 2014;39(9):1029-37.. The current meta-analysis assessed indirect markers of muscle damage, including CK and LDH serum concentration, and oxidative stress marker (MDA serum concentration) among trained and untrained healthy adult participants of both sexes, looking at reported clinical trials (crossover and parallel randomized clinical trials). This systematic review and meta-analysis provides a comprehensive literature analysis regarding the hypothesis that vitamins E supplementation can help EIMD and oxidative stress.

METHODS

Search Strategy

The systematic review and meta-analysis was reported based on the guidelines of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA)1919 Liberati A, Altman DG, Tetzlaff J, Mulrow C, Gøtzsche PC, Ioannidis JPA et al. The PRISMA statement for reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses of studies that evaluate health care interventions: explanation and elaboration. Annals of internal medicine. 2009;151(4):W-65-94.. A computerized literature search was performed from inception to November 2021 using Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, Scopus and a supplementary Google Scholar search. The search was restricted to studies published in English language. The following phrases and their combinations of MeSH and non-MeSH terms were used, including: “vitamin E”, “tocopherol”, “alpha tocopherol”, “ beta tocopherol”, “tocotrienol”, “antioxidant vitamins”, “antioxidants”, “exercise”, “physical exercise”, “eccentric exercise”, “aerobic exercise”, “athlete”, “oxidative stress”, “malondialdehyde”, “muliascle damage” “creatine kinase”, “lactate dehydrogenase”, “controlled trial”, “randomized”, “randomised”, “random”, “randomly”, “randomized clinical trial”, “RCT”, “blinded”, “double blind”, “double blinded”, “trial”, “controlled clinical trial”, “crossover procedure”, “cross-over trial”, “double blind procedure “and “equivalence trial”. Reference lists of all articles were examined for further eligible studies identification.

Eligibility Criteria

Studies were selected by applying the following Population-Intervention-Comparator-Outcomes-Study design (PICOS) criteria1919 Liberati A, Altman DG, Tetzlaff J, Mulrow C, Gøtzsche PC, Ioannidis JPA et al. The PRISMA statement for reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses of studies that evaluate health care interventions: explanation and elaboration. Annals of internal medicine. 2009;151(4):W-65-94.: 1) subjects received oral vitamin E supplementation, as a nutritional strategy; 2) original randomized-controlled trial researches; 3) reporting at least one outcome measure of muscle damage indices (creatine kinase (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)) and 4) outcome measure of oxidative stress index (malondialdehyde (MDA)) 5) presented data of interest as mean and standard deviation (SD) of CK, LDH and MDA in both intervention and placebo groups. Exclusion criteria were: 1) using a mixture of vitamin E only in intervention group (vitamin C, Coenzyme Q10 and etc), not including a placebo group; 2) semi experimental, nonrandomized trials and trials without control groups; 3) experimental and animal studies; 4) reviews, letters to editor, editorial articles, or case reports; 5) duplicate studies with the same population (several papers reported the same data); and 6) enrolled pregnant or lactating women.

Study quality

Since it has been adopted that trial inclusion with a high risk of bias may distort the results of a meta-analysis 1919 Liberati A, Altman DG, Tetzlaff J, Mulrow C, Gøtzsche PC, Ioannidis JPA et al. The PRISMA statement for reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses of studies that evaluate health care interventions: explanation and elaboration. Annals of internal medicine. 2009;151(4):W-65-94.,2020 Higgins JP, Altman DG, Gøtzsche PC, Jüni P, Moher D, Oxman AD et al. The Cochrane Collaboration’s tool for assessing risk of bias in randomised trials. Bmj. 2011;343:d5928., the Cochrane Collaboration tool was used for evaluating the risk of bias. The quality of all included studies were evaluated by the following factors: randomization sequence generation; allocation concealment; blinding of participants, personnel, investigator, and assessor; attrition rates; and financial interest by companies. These were given a rating of high, unclear, or low risk of bias. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) was ranked as having high, medium, or low-risk overall based on the key areas of allocation concealment, reporting of attrition rates, and participants and assessor (low = all key areas rated low, high = all 4 factors rated high, and medium = 2 or 3 factors rated high or unclear).

Analyses and measures of treatment effect

For every study, mean differences and SD were computed for continuous variables. Standardized mean differences were used for variables pooled on the different scales. Between-study heterogeneity was assessed using the chi-squared (χ2) test and quantified using the I22 Torres R, Pinho F, Duarte JA, Cabri JMH. Effect of single bout versus repeated bouts of stretching on muscle recovery following eccentric exercise. Journal of science and medicine in sport. 2013;16(6):583-8. statistic, which represents the percentage of the total variation across studies that is attributable to heterogeneity rather than to chance. Significant heterogeneity was defined with a P-value of <0.05.

The random effects model was applied to calculate the weighted mean differences (WMDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for estimating the overall effect. Publication bias was assessed by Egger’s regression asymmetry and test Begg’s rank correlation test. Funnel plots depicted the effect sizes (differences in means) against their corresponding standard errors. Also, statistical analyses were performed using STATA 11.2 software (StataCorp, College Station, Texas, USA).

RESULTS

Search results and overview of included studies

Our search led to 588 relevant studies. After duplicates removing, a wide screening range of the titles and abstracts and careful assessment was performed on 572 related articles. Of these, 32 articles remained after considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria for the eligibility. Finally, 13 articles, including, 29 effect sizes for CK, 5 effect sizes for LDH and 19 effect sizes for MDA, which studied a total of 246, 99 and 126 participants respectively and aged 20.3 – 55 years, were identified in the current systematic review and meta-analysis. This listed number is inclusive of people who were dropouts in some studies. Participants tended to be young, but two studies evaluated vitamin E effects on CK, LDH and MDA concentration for elderly men in addition to youth1111 Cannon JG, Orencole SF, Fielding RA, Meydani M, Meydani SN, Fiatarone MA et al. Acute phase response in exercise: interaction of age and vitamin E on neutrophils and muscle enzyme release. American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. 1990;259(6):R1214-9.,2121 Sacheck JM, Milbury PE, Cannon JG, Roubenoff R, Blumberg B. Effect of vitamin E and eccentric exercise on selected biomarkers of oxidative stress in young and elderly men. Free radical biology and medicine. 2003;34(12):1575-88.. In addition, all participants were men, except in one study which women participated (n = 20) 2222 Taghiyar M, Darvishi L, Askari G, et al. The effect of vitamin C and e supplementation on muscle damage and oxidative stress in female athletes: a clinical trial. International journal of preventive medicine. 2013;4(Suppl 1):S16., and in one study both men and women participated (n = 19)1616 Buchman AL, Killip D, Ou CN, Rognerud CL, Pownall H, Dennis K et al. Short-term vitamin E supplementation before marathon running: a placebo-controlled trial. Nutrition. 1999;15(4):278-83..

One study was not randomized1717 Kashef M. Effect of vitamin E supplementation on delayed onset muscle soreness in young men. Journal of Physical Activity and Hormones. 2018;2(3):15-28. and data from one article was not directly accessible from the published papers, and we did not receive raw data for trial from the authors1212 Gaeini AA, Rahnama N, Hamedinia MR. Effects of vitamin E supplementation on oxidative stress at rest and after exercise to exhaustion in athletic students. Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness. 2006;46(3):458-61.. Figure 1 represents the selection process and reasons for excluding the studies and the data in Table 1 illustrates the main characteristics of the articles in our systematic review and meta-analysis.

Figure 1
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) flow diagram of study selection process.
Table 1
Summary of relevant sources of data.

In brief, the studies were published between 1990 and 2018. The total number of participants who completed the studies in inclusion criteria was 118 participants in the intervention and 128 in the placebo groups for CK, 49 participants in the intervention and 50 in the placebo groups for LDH and 62 participants in the intervention and 64 in the placebo groups for MDA. The dose of vitamin E supplementation was 130 to 1200 IU/day among these studies and the duration of these trials ranged between 1 to 84 days. Three studies used a randomized crossover design1414 Keong CC, Singh HJ, Singh R. Effects of palm vitamin E supplementation on exercise-induced oxidative stress and endurance performance in the heat. Journal of sports science & medicine. 2006;5(4):629-39.,1818 Santos S, Silva ET, Caris AV, Lira FS, Tufik S, Dos Santos RVT. Vitamin E supplementation inhibits muscle damage and inflammation after moderate exercise in hypoxia. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics. 2016;29(4):516-22.,2323 Niess AM, Fehrenbach E, Schlotz E, Sommer M, Angres C, Tschositsch K et al. Effects of RRR-α-tocopherol on leukocyte expression of HSP72 in response to exhaustive treadmill exercise. International journal of sports medicine. 2002;23(06):445-52., and all of them had the design of double-blind. Among 16 studies 5 studies were conducted in n the United States1111 Cannon JG, Orencole SF, Fielding RA, Meydani M, Meydani SN, Fiatarone MA et al. Acute phase response in exercise: interaction of age and vitamin E on neutrophils and muscle enzyme release. American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. 1990;259(6):R1214-9.,1616 Buchman AL, Killip D, Ou CN, Rognerud CL, Pownall H, Dennis K et al. Short-term vitamin E supplementation before marathon running: a placebo-controlled trial. Nutrition. 1999;15(4):278-83.,2121 Sacheck JM, Milbury PE, Cannon JG, Roubenoff R, Blumberg B. Effect of vitamin E and eccentric exercise on selected biomarkers of oxidative stress in young and elderly men. Free radical biology and medicine. 2003;34(12):1575-88.,2424 McBride JM, Kraemer WJ, Triplett-McBride T, Sebastianelli W. Effect of resistance exercise on free radical production. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 1998;30(1):67-72.,2525 Avery NG, Kaiser JL, Sharman MJ, Scheett TP, Barnes DM, Gómez AL et al. Effects of vitamin E supplementation on recovery from repeated bouts of resistance exercise. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. 2003;17(4):801-9.. The effect of vitamin E on CK, LDH and MDA concentration together was examined in one study2222 Taghiyar M, Darvishi L, Askari G, et al. The effect of vitamin C and e supplementation on muscle damage and oxidative stress in female athletes: a clinical trial. International journal of preventive medicine. 2013;4(Suppl 1):S16.; 12 studies only reported CK1111 Cannon JG, Orencole SF, Fielding RA, Meydani M, Meydani SN, Fiatarone MA et al. Acute phase response in exercise: interaction of age and vitamin E on neutrophils and muscle enzyme release. American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. 1990;259(6):R1214-9.,1313 Bataineh MF, Al-Nawaiseh AM, Taifour A, Judge LW. Dead Sea Marathon-Induced Muscle Damage and Acute Oral Vitamin E Supplementation. Journal of Exercise Physiology Online. 2017;20(3):1-13.1616 Buchman AL, Killip D, Ou CN, Rognerud CL, Pownall H, Dennis K et al. Short-term vitamin E supplementation before marathon running: a placebo-controlled trial. Nutrition. 1999;15(4):278-83.,1818 Santos S, Silva ET, Caris AV, Lira FS, Tufik S, Dos Santos RVT. Vitamin E supplementation inhibits muscle damage and inflammation after moderate exercise in hypoxia. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics. 2016;29(4):516-22.,2121 Sacheck JM, Milbury PE, Cannon JG, Roubenoff R, Blumberg B. Effect of vitamin E and eccentric exercise on selected biomarkers of oxidative stress in young and elderly men. Free radical biology and medicine. 2003;34(12):1575-88.2626 Itoh H, Ohkuwa T, Yamazaki Y, Shimoda T, Wakayama A, Tamura S et al. Vitamin E supplementation attenuates leakage of enzymes following 6 successive days of running training. International Journal of Sports Medicine. 2000;21(05):369-74, 4 studies only reported LDH1818 Santos S, Silva ET, Caris AV, Lira FS, Tufik S, Dos Santos RVT. Vitamin E supplementation inhibits muscle damage and inflammation after moderate exercise in hypoxia. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics. 2016;29(4):516-22.,2222 Taghiyar M, Darvishi L, Askari G, et al. The effect of vitamin C and e supplementation on muscle damage and oxidative stress in female athletes: a clinical trial. International journal of preventive medicine. 2013;4(Suppl 1):S16.,2626 Itoh H, Ohkuwa T, Yamazaki Y, Shimoda T, Wakayama A, Tamura S et al. Vitamin E supplementation attenuates leakage of enzymes following 6 successive days of running training. International Journal of Sports Medicine. 2000;21(05):369-74,2727 Silva LA, Pinho CA, Silveira PCL, Tuon T, De Souza CT, Dal-Pizzol F et al. Vitamin E supplementation decreases muscular and oxidative damage but not inflammatory response induced by eccentric contraction. The journal of physiological sciences. 2010;60(1):51-7. and 6 studies only reported MDA1111 Cannon JG, Orencole SF, Fielding RA, Meydani M, Meydani SN, Fiatarone MA et al. Acute phase response in exercise: interaction of age and vitamin E on neutrophils and muscle enzyme release. American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. 1990;259(6):R1214-9.,1414 Keong CC, Singh HJ, Singh R. Effects of palm vitamin E supplementation on exercise-induced oxidative stress and endurance performance in the heat. Journal of sports science & medicine. 2006;5(4):629-39.,2121 Sacheck JM, Milbury PE, Cannon JG, Roubenoff R, Blumberg B. Effect of vitamin E and eccentric exercise on selected biomarkers of oxidative stress in young and elderly men. Free radical biology and medicine. 2003;34(12):1575-88.,2222 Taghiyar M, Darvishi L, Askari G, et al. The effect of vitamin C and e supplementation on muscle damage and oxidative stress in female athletes: a clinical trial. International journal of preventive medicine. 2013;4(Suppl 1):S16.,2424 McBride JM, Kraemer WJ, Triplett-McBride T, Sebastianelli W. Effect of resistance exercise on free radical production. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 1998;30(1):67-72.,2525 Avery NG, Kaiser JL, Sharman MJ, Scheett TP, Barnes DM, Gómez AL et al. Effects of vitamin E supplementation on recovery from repeated bouts of resistance exercise. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. 2003;17(4):801-9..

Results from quality assessments

Table 2 presented the quality details of bias assessment. Briefly, participants random allocation was mentioned in all included trials. However, three studies described the method of random sequence generation 1111 Cannon JG, Orencole SF, Fielding RA, Meydani M, Meydani SN, Fiatarone MA et al. Acute phase response in exercise: interaction of age and vitamin E on neutrophils and muscle enzyme release. American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. 1990;259(6):R1214-9.,2222 Taghiyar M, Darvishi L, Askari G, et al. The effect of vitamin C and e supplementation on muscle damage and oxidative stress in female athletes: a clinical trial. International journal of preventive medicine. 2013;4(Suppl 1):S16.,2727 Silva LA, Pinho CA, Silveira PCL, Tuon T, De Souza CT, Dal-Pizzol F et al. Vitamin E supplementation decreases muscular and oxidative damage but not inflammatory response induced by eccentric contraction. The journal of physiological sciences. 2010;60(1):51-7.. Seven studies reported allocation concealment 1313 Bataineh MF, Al-Nawaiseh AM, Taifour A, Judge LW. Dead Sea Marathon-Induced Muscle Damage and Acute Oral Vitamin E Supplementation. Journal of Exercise Physiology Online. 2017;20(3):1-13.,1414 Keong CC, Singh HJ, Singh R. Effects of palm vitamin E supplementation on exercise-induced oxidative stress and endurance performance in the heat. Journal of sports science & medicine. 2006;5(4):629-39.,1818 Santos S, Silva ET, Caris AV, Lira FS, Tufik S, Dos Santos RVT. Vitamin E supplementation inhibits muscle damage and inflammation after moderate exercise in hypoxia. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics. 2016;29(4):516-22.,2121 Sacheck JM, Milbury PE, Cannon JG, Roubenoff R, Blumberg B. Effect of vitamin E and eccentric exercise on selected biomarkers of oxidative stress in young and elderly men. Free radical biology and medicine. 2003;34(12):1575-88.2424 McBride JM, Kraemer WJ, Triplett-McBride T, Sebastianelli W. Effect of resistance exercise on free radical production. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 1998;30(1):67-72.. Most studies represented low risk of bias based on selective reporting; nevertheless, 3 studies had high risk of bias 1313 Bataineh MF, Al-Nawaiseh AM, Taifour A, Judge LW. Dead Sea Marathon-Induced Muscle Damage and Acute Oral Vitamin E Supplementation. Journal of Exercise Physiology Online. 2017;20(3):1-13.,2323 Niess AM, Fehrenbach E, Schlotz E, Sommer M, Angres C, Tschositsch K et al. Effects of RRR-α-tocopherol on leukocyte expression of HSP72 in response to exhaustive treadmill exercise. International journal of sports medicine. 2002;23(06):445-52.,2424 McBride JM, Kraemer WJ, Triplett-McBride T, Sebastianelli W. Effect of resistance exercise on free radical production. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 1998;30(1):67-72.. All studies had a low risk of bias for incomplete outcome data. Nine studies had a low risk of bias for blinding of participants and personnel 1414 Keong CC, Singh HJ, Singh R. Effects of palm vitamin E supplementation on exercise-induced oxidative stress and endurance performance in the heat. Journal of sports science & medicine. 2006;5(4):629-39.1616 Buchman AL, Killip D, Ou CN, Rognerud CL, Pownall H, Dennis K et al. Short-term vitamin E supplementation before marathon running: a placebo-controlled trial. Nutrition. 1999;15(4):278-83.,1818 Santos S, Silva ET, Caris AV, Lira FS, Tufik S, Dos Santos RVT. Vitamin E supplementation inhibits muscle damage and inflammation after moderate exercise in hypoxia. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics. 2016;29(4):516-22.,2121 Sacheck JM, Milbury PE, Cannon JG, Roubenoff R, Blumberg B. Effect of vitamin E and eccentric exercise on selected biomarkers of oxidative stress in young and elderly men. Free radical biology and medicine. 2003;34(12):1575-88.2323 Niess AM, Fehrenbach E, Schlotz E, Sommer M, Angres C, Tschositsch K et al. Effects of RRR-α-tocopherol on leukocyte expression of HSP72 in response to exhaustive treadmill exercise. International journal of sports medicine. 2002;23(06):445-52.,2525 Avery NG, Kaiser JL, Sharman MJ, Scheett TP, Barnes DM, Gómez AL et al. Effects of vitamin E supplementation on recovery from repeated bouts of resistance exercise. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. 2003;17(4):801-9.,2727 Silva LA, Pinho CA, Silveira PCL, Tuon T, De Souza CT, Dal-Pizzol F et al. Vitamin E supplementation decreases muscular and oxidative damage but not inflammatory response induced by eccentric contraction. The journal of physiological sciences. 2010;60(1):51-7. and just one studies had low risk of bias regarding blinding outcome assessors 1515 Beaton LJ, Allan DA, Tarnopolsky MA, Tiidus PM, Phillips SM. Contraction-induced muscle damage is unaffected by vitamin E supplementation. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2002;34(5):798-805.. All of studies had unclear or low risk of bias regarding other potential threats to validity.

Table 2
Cochrane Risk of Bias Assessment.

Findings from the meta-analysis

Effects of vitamin E supplementation on serum CK concentration

According to our analysis on 29 trials, in overall, vitamin E consumption had significant effect on CK concentration: (WMD = -26.92; 95% CI: -47.295, -6.553; P = 0.010). There was significant heterogeneity among the studies (Cochran’s Q test = 148.67, P = 0.000, I22 Torres R, Pinho F, Duarte JA, Cabri JMH. Effect of single bout versus repeated bouts of stretching on muscle recovery following eccentric exercise. Journal of science and medicine in sport. 2013;16(6):583-8. = 81.2 %) (Figure 2). Subgroup analysis was conducted to investigate if the effect of vitamin E supplementation on serum CK is different according to follow-ups after exercise, dose of vitamin E, duration of studies, exercise type, train status and study design. Some of subgroup analysis revealed that vitamin E supplementation resulted in a significant decrease in CK concentrations in trials with immediately and <24 hours measurement of CK after exercise, <1000 IU/day vitamin E consumption, all ≤1 week, 1 – 6 weeks and >6 weeks trial duration, studies on aerobic exercise and trained participant and cross over study design.

Figure 2
Forest plot of the effect of vitamin E supplementation on creatine kinase subgrouped by follow up times after exercise. WMD = weighted mean difference; CI = confidence interval.

Effects of vitamin E supplementation on LDH concentration

As outlined in Figure 3, our preliminary analysis indicated that vitamin E supplementation have significant effect in serum LDH concentration compared to placebo (WMD = -45.24; 95% CI: -86.44, -4.03; P= 0.031). Also, significant heterogeneity was observed among studies (Cochran’s Q test = 109.59, P= 0.000, I22 Torres R, Pinho F, Duarte JA, Cabri JMH. Effect of single bout versus repeated bouts of stretching on muscle recovery following eccentric exercise. Journal of science and medicine in sport. 2013;16(6):583-8. = 93.0 %).

Figure 3
Forest plot of the effect of vitamin E supplementation on lactate dehydrogenase subgrouped by follow up times after exercise. WMD = weighted mean difference; CI = confidence interval.

Effects of vitamin E supplementation on MDA concentration

The effect of the vitamin E supplementation on MDA concentration was evaluated in 19 arms of clinical trials and pooled mean difference from inverse variance method showed no significant reduction in MDA concentration (WMD = 0.07; 95% CI: -0.03, 0.16; p = 0.020) with considerable between-study heterogeneity (P= 0.000, I22 Torres R, Pinho F, Duarte JA, Cabri JMH. Effect of single bout versus repeated bouts of stretching on muscle recovery following eccentric exercise. Journal of science and medicine in sport. 2013;16(6):583-8. = 78.0) (Figure 4). Subgroup analysis of follow-ups after exercise, dose of vitamin E, duration of studies and exercise type, train status and study design had no significant effect on MDA concentration in any subgroups.

Figure 4
Forest plot of the effect of vitamin E supplementation on malondialdehyde subgrouped by follow up times after exercise. WMD = weighted mean difference; CI = confidence interval.

Sensitivity analysis and publication bias

Sensitivity analysis indicated that the removal of any of the studies from the meta-analysis, create no change in the results of the meta-analysis on CK and LDH concentration whereas, the results on MDA concentration were sensitive to omitting 1 study 1414 Keong CC, Singh HJ, Singh R. Effects of palm vitamin E supplementation on exercise-induced oxidative stress and endurance performance in the heat. Journal of sports science & medicine. 2006;5(4):629-39.. The results of Begg’s test did not determine any evidence of publication bias in studies that examine the effect of vitamin E consumption on CK (Begg’s test, P = 0.894) and on MDA (Begg’s test, P = 0.512). Also, the results of Egger’s test did not determine any evidence of publication bias in studies that examine the effect of vitamin E consumption on LDH (Egger’s test, P = 0.346)

DISCUSSION

The results of the current meta-analysis, performed on 23 randomized controlled trials, revealed beneficial effects of vitamin E supplementation in decreasing CK and LDH concentration during training protocols of different periods.

Damage of skeletal muscle is a phenomenon that can happen because of several factors, such as cell necrosis or rupture, representing about 10-55% of total muscular injuries 2828 Cervellin G, Comelli I, Lippi G. Rhabdomyolysis: historical background, clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic features. Clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine. 2010;48(6):749-56.. The muscle tissue damage can be defined as the plasma membrane disruption, accompanied by the muscle proteins loss (i.e. CK, LDH, myoglobin), proteins of serum influx, increased crowd of inflammatory infiltrates in the muscle fibers (i.e. neutrophils and macrophages), delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), functional impairment (loss of strength), and some possible structural disorders like sarcomere Z lines disarrangement 2929 Warren GL, Ingalls C, Lowe DA, Armstrong RB. Excitation-contraction uncoupling: major role in contraction-induced muscle injury. Exercise and sport sciences reviews. 2001;29(2):82-7.,3030 Koontz J. The Effects of Common Treatment Modalities on Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS). 2019. Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects. 126. [acesso em 21 de fevereiro de 2022]. Disponível em: https://digitalshowcase.lynchburg.edu/
https://digitalshowcase.lynchburg.edu/...
. The ingestion of antioxidant vitamins has been proposed to attenuate muscle damage through prevention of muscle fiber lipids peroxidation that leads to cellular disruption. Vitamin E is the major lipid soluble, chain-breaking antioxidant 3131 Lauridsen C, Litta G. Vitamin E: more than nature’s most powerful antioxidant [acesso em 21 de fevereiro de 2022]. Disponível em: https://pure.au.dk/portal/files/147203951/vitamin_E.pdf
https://pure.au.dk/portal/files/14720395...
. Vitamin E accumulates in the cell membranes phospholipid bilayer and limits lipid peroxidation within the membrane 3232 Cavazos AT, Bank MI, Bell ME, Leach ZL, Kinnum JJ, Wassall SR. Vitamin E Bends Model Cell Membranes to Promote its Antioxidant Function. Biophysical Journal. 2018;114(3):101a.. Vitamin E supplementation has been shown to significantly decrease the amount of membrane damage and lipid peroxidation associated with different types of exercise 2424 McBride JM, Kraemer WJ, Triplett-McBride T, Sebastianelli W. Effect of resistance exercise on free radical production. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 1998;30(1):67-72.. We suggest this mechanistic explanation for the lower CK and LDH response with vitamin E supplementation, which vitamin E may have enhanced membrane stability and thereby lowered enzyme release.

Subgroup analysis showed the effect of vitamin E supplementation on lowering serum CK is significant in immediately and <24 hours follow-ups after exercise. The responses of CK might depend on where the early site of muscle damage occurred, the training situation of the participants 3333 Maughan RJ, Gleeson M. The biochemical basis of sports performance. New York: Oxford University Press;2010., the type and familiarity with the exercise used and therefore the limit of myocellular specific proteins release. In this regard, trials with trained participants had a significant decrease in CK concentrations with vitamin E supplementation. The high intra- and inter individual variation in CK responses question their accuracy at scaling the value of muscle damage because this parameters, rather than providing evidence for its progression, mostly serve as indirect indicators of recovery and as global markers for damage 88 Rahimi MH, Shab-Bidar S, Mollahosseini M, Djafarian K. Branched-chain amino acid supplementation and exercise-induced muscle damage in exercise recovery: A meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. Nutrition. 2017;42:30-6.,99 Rahimi MH, Mohammadi H, Eshaghi H, Askari G, Miraghajani M. The effects of beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate supplementation on recovery following exercise-induced muscle damage: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of the American College of Nutrition. 2018;37(7):640-9.,3434 Friden J, Lieber RL. Eccentric exercise-induced injuries to contractile and cytoskeletal muscle fibre components. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica. 2001;171(3):321-6..

Also, subgroup analysis revealed that vitamin E supplementation resulted in a significant decrease in CK concentrations in studies that conducted on aerobic exercise and not resistance exercise. The major feature of skeletal muscle damage without cell necrosis is the muscle fibers disruption, specifically the basal lamina sheath. Regarding mechanical stimuli, specifically resistance exercise, it is known that it can promote micro damage in muscle fibers imposed by contractions or overload and, according to the length, intensity and volume the degree and severity of damage and discomfort may be compounded over time and persist chronically 1717 Kashef M. Effect of vitamin E supplementation on delayed onset muscle soreness in young men. Journal of Physical Activity and Hormones. 2018;2(3):15-28.,2525 Avery NG, Kaiser JL, Sharman MJ, Scheett TP, Barnes DM, Gómez AL et al. Effects of vitamin E supplementation on recovery from repeated bouts of resistance exercise. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. 2003;17(4):801-9.. For these reasons, vitamin E cannot be effective enough for resistance exercise.

Contrary to expectations, dose of <1000 IU/day vitamin E had significant effect on lowering CK. It can be speculated that participant in all studies that used <1000 IU/day vitamin E, conducted aerobic exercise except one study 2727 Silva LA, Pinho CA, Silveira PCL, Tuon T, De Souza CT, Dal-Pizzol F et al. Vitamin E supplementation decreases muscular and oxidative damage but not inflammatory response induced by eccentric contraction. The journal of physiological sciences. 2010;60(1):51-7.. Above-mentioned subgroup analysis indicated that vitamin E supplementation decreased CK in t with aerobic exercise.

The present meta-analysis had several limitations. No included studies in this meta-analysis blinded the providers/ assessors except one study. Due to the nature of physical activity interventions, blinding in such studies may be challenging. Moreover, evidence was downgraded due to the lack of homogeneity among included articles and subgroup hypothesis were not sufficient for founding the source of heterogeneity. However, follow-ups after exercise explained potential between-study heterogeneity. Lack of information about data on intensity and frequency of exercise, genetic background, lifestyle factors and lack of complete baseline CK and LDH data for subgroup analysis make overall interpretation of the results difficult.

CONCLUSION

In summary, the findings within the present meta-analysis indicate that supplementation with vitamin E appears to be effective at attenuating the immediate muscle damage that occurs after aerobic exercise muscle injury. But, due to high heterogeneity and the medium risk of bias for articles, we suggest that these facts be taken into account and the data be interpreted with caution by the readers.

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Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    13 May 2022
  • Date of issue
    Sep-Oct 2022

History

  • Received
    20 Dec 2021
  • Accepted
    17 Jan 2022
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