Vitamin E and neurologic function in man.

Despite the well-known detrimental effect of vitamin E deficiency on the nervous system of many experimental animal models for decades, only over the past decade has vitamin E become recognized as essential for the maintenance of the structure and function of the human nervous system. This discovery of the neurologic role of vitamin E in man is due primarily to the identification of a degenerative neurologic syndrome in children and adults with chronic vitamin E deficiency caused by gastrointestinal diseases impairing fat and vitamin E absorption. A compelling body of clinical, neuropathologic, and therapeutic response evidence conclusively demonstrates that vitamin E deficiency is responsible for the neurologic disorder seen in such patients. In addition, an inborn error in vitamin E metabolism, the Isolated Vitamin E Deficiency Syndrome, causes vitamin E deficiency and similar neurologic degeneration in the absence of fat malabsorption. Guidelines for the evaluation and treatment of vitamin E deficiency in relevant clinical circumstances are provided. The possible role of vitamin E in treating other neurologic diseases is discussed.