Does vitamin E have a role in treatment and prevention of anemia?

Vitamin E is a highly effective fat-soluble vitamin with a variety of cellular membrane stabilizing-antioxidant and non-antioxidant functions. Vitamin E has been suggested to prevent the oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids in red blood cell (RBC) membrane, thus inhibiting the premature erythrocytelysis. Animal studies have shown that treatment with vitamin E results in increased number of colony forming units of erythroid precursors, enhanced erythropoiesis and improved blood hemoglobin levels in these animals. Several clinical trials have indicated that vitamin E might be used therapeutically as a potential erythropoietic agent for decreasing the premature erythrocyte hemolysis by reducing the fragility of erythrocytes. By this way, it improves the post-supplemental blood hemoglobin and hematocrit levels in some of the anemic human subjects, including low birth weight premature infants, patients suffering from various types of inherited hemolytic anemia, chronic renal failure patients on hemodialysis and apparently healthy mildly anemic subjects.