Does Vitamin E Affect Blood Sugar?

In a meta-analysis of 14 randomized controlled trials that evaluated the influence of vitamin E (studies with combined antioxidants were excluded from this review) on glycemic control, the authors stated in their conclusion that “there is currently insufficient evidence to support a potential beneficial effect of vitamin E supplementation on improvements of HbA1c and fasting glucose and insulin concentrations in subjects with type 2 diabetes.”
However, when subgroups were analyzed, the conclusion was different. For example, in the text of the paper, the authors state “the subgroup analysis indicated that vitamin E supplementation significantly decreased both HbA1c and fasting insulin in studies with low serum vitamin E concentration and poorer glycemic control. Furthermore, larger vitamin E doses and longer study durations also benefited HbA1c and fasting insulin concentrations.”

This paradoxical statement confirms the inherent difficulty in testing vitamins in isolation for complex diseases using the randomized controlled trial paradigm from pharmaceutical trials.
(Public Library of Science, April 2014)

http://www.spectracell.com/volume-2014-issue-no-8-august/ Web. 03 September. 2014.