Technion researchers have found that vitamin E supplements can significantly reduce the risk of heart attacks and related deaths for diabetics who carry the ‘Hp 2-2 gene’, the particular variant of the ‘haptoglobin gene’ held by 40% of diabetes sufferers.

Dr. Andrew Levy, who headed up the team of researchers at the Technion’s Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, found that after 18 months of daily vitamin E consumption, there where 50% fewer heart attacks, strokes and related deaths compared to those who took a placebo pill. The researchers found no side-effects in patients who took vitamin E.

Haptoglobin, of which there are several versions, is a powerful antioxidant protein that stabilizes the iron-rich red blood cell molecule called hemoglobin, preventing inflammation in the walls of arteries. In previous studies, Levy and his colleagues showed that patients with Hp 2-2 are two-to-three times more likely than other diabetics to suffer a cardiovascular event such as heart attack.

When speaking about the future implications in genetic testing for the Hp 2-2 gene, Dr. Andrew Levy of the Technion’s Rappaport Faculty of Medicine commented: “The study may be useful to identify a large group of diabetes individuals who could potentially derive cardiovascular benefit from a very inexpensive treatment.”