Vitamin E extracted from palm oil may boost immunity and liver health, finds mice study

05 Nov 2020 --- Researchers from Malaysia and Libya have found that tocotrienol-rich fractions (TRF) extracted from palm oil can potentially be used to improve liver health.

“TRF protects the liver from toxic events, for example, from harmful chemicals that we unintentionally eat that are present in our diet,” study author Ahmed Atia from the University of Tripoli tells NutritionInsight. 

Palm oil is notably rich in vitamin E compounds, such as tocopherols and tocotrienols, which improve immunity through their positive effects on white blood cell functions.

Atia hopes his research – published in Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology – may create more public awareness about the positive effects of tocotrienols on human health.

Palm TRF and diethyl maleate treatment in vivo elicit enhanced hepatic nuclear Nrf2 within 30 minutes.Moreover, Atia says his team’s research could possibly encourage an uptick in vitamin E extraction from palm oil to create E supplements. 

“However, the capability of commercial labs to produce the extracts are quite limited due to lack of demand by the population, which is still ignorant about the positive health benefits of tocotrienols.”

Dose-dependent increases
The study aimed to investigate whether TRF induces the nuclear translocation of liver Nrf2 – known to upregulate phase II drug metabolism in reaction to metabolic processes – and influences the expression of Nrf2-regulated genes.

Mice were divided into a control group, a 2 g per kg TRF group and a diethyl maleate-treated group. 

Administering 2 g per kg TRF initiated Nrf2 nuclear translocation within 30 minutes. It reached its maximum level around one hour and dropped to half-maximal levels within 24 hours. 

Incremental doses of TRF at 200, 500 and 1000 mg per kg, resulted in dose-dependent increases in liver Nrf2 nuclear levels, along with concomitant dose-dependent increases in the expressions of Nrf2-regulated genes.

Atia’s team does not have plans to replicate the study’s findings in a human trial just yet. “The challenge, for now, is limited tocotrienol bioavailability in humans. “However, this could be overcome by encapsulating tocotrienols with nanomaterials, for example,” he explains.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first in vivo study on the effect of tocotrienols on Nrf2 on the genetic material in the nucleus.

Industry implications
There are economical benefits of vitamin E extracted from palm oil to the nutrition industry, says Atia. He says that palm oil is “not a bad oil” and “should be consumed more” as more palm oil is produced through sustainable farming in Malaysia,” says Atia.

While the food industry views palm as an efficient oil crop, palm oil’s sustainable management has been under fire. Unless more is done to fulfill net zero deforestation targets, many in the consumer goods sector are unlikely to meet their goals, according to CDP’s new Investor Research report “Zeroing-in on Deforestation.”

Currently, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is piloting new rules of its Shared Responsibility concept to boost agricultural transparency and ensure supply chain actors adhere to the same safety standards.

The chemical structure of tocopherols and tocotrienols.In the future, studies on tocopherol’s effect in alleviating fatty liver disease, metabolic syndrome and bone health may be potential research avenues. Compared to the “over-studied” tocopherol, more scientific understanding is needed on tocotrienols, says Atia.

Besides preceding liver health studies, tocotrienol has previously been investigated in the fields of age-related memory decline and altering gut microbiome profiles. 

Ultimately, Atia and his research team hope that their latest study findings pave the way for readily available remedies for “a variety of diseases.” 

By Anni Schleicher