‘Sister reminded me of Stalin with her unwavering discipline and wavy moustache’Vitamin E suppositories could treat ulcerative colitis
Vitamin E suppositories may be a potential treatment for ulcerative colitis – a condition which lacks a disease-specific treatment at present, a small study suggests.
Fifteen patients with mild to moderate ulcerative colitis were given rectal d-alpha tocopherol (vitamin E) at a hospital in Tehran, Iran.
After 12 weeks, 14 patients showed a clinical response greater than two on the Mayo clinical disease activity index, with no blood in stool. Nine patients went into remission.
Although this is a small pilot study without controls, the authors suggest that their results show that the effect is better than a placebo.
They say that vitamin E’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties may account for the result.
World Journal of Gastroenterology (2008) 14: 5990-5995
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