Study supports safety, tolerability of palm tocotrienol in people with MetS

03-Jan-2017 - Last updated on 03-Jan-2017 at 16:32 GMT

Vitamin E is a family of eight separate but related molecules: four tocopherols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta) and four tocotrienols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta). Tocotrienols are derived from three major sources, including rice, palm and annatto. Image: © iStock

Consuming a palm tocotrienol complex is safe and well tolerated in people with metabolic syndrome, say results of a randomized, double-blind, cross-over and placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Fourteen days of supplementation with 400 mg per day of the EVNol SupraBio-branded palm tocotrienol complex (supplied by ExcelVite) did not detrimentally affect blood chemistry or liver function, according to data published in the Journal of Oil Palm Research, a publication of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board.

These results may contribute to the scientific community in the establishment of intake recommendations for tocotrienols, particularly the tolerable upper intake levels, wrote the authors, led by Gan Yee Lin from the Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences at the Universiti Putra Malaysia.

Study details

The researchers recruited 31 people with metabolic syndrome aged between 25-56 and randomly assigned them to receive either 400mg of EVNol SupraBio or placebo for 14 days.

Results showed that there were no differences between the active and placebo groups for red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelet counts. In addition, there were no significant differences in body weight, and serum liver enzymes such as aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and albumin, compared with placebo.

Commenting on the study’s findings, CheeYen Lau, Nutritionist of ExcelVite, said: “This is the first human clinical study that evaluates the safety of tocotrienol in terms of haematological and hepatological profiles vis a vis proven safety results of EVNol SupraBio.

“Apart from this study, another recent clinical study also reveals that daily supplementation of 400mg of d-mixed tocotrienol (EVNol SupraBio) for 52 weeks demonstrates fatty liver amelioration in non-alcoholic-induced fatty liver subjects, without any reported adverse health effects. Fatty liver is the precursor to metabolic syndrome (eg. diabetes, obesity and hypertension) and these encouraging clinical results allows companies to formulate a liver health product with EVNol SupraBio to address fatty liver.”

Source: Journal of Oil Palm Research
Volume 28, Pages 34-43
“Safety Assessment of Tocotrienol Supplementation in Subjects with Metabolic Syndrome: A Randomized Control Trial. Journal of Oil Palm Research”
Authors: G.Y. Lin, et al.