Vitamins C & E Help Preserve Muscle and Strength in Older Women

As people age, many will experience sarcopenia, the decreased muscle mass

and strength that can accompany aging. Sarcopenia can reduce quality of life

and increase risk of frailty, falls, fractures and death. This study set out to see if

something as simple as vitamins C and E could help.

This 12 week double-blind study gave either a placebo or the antioxidant

vitamins C and E to 60 women who were between 60 and 75 and who had

sarcopenia and who were simultaneously doing resistance training.

The dose of vitamin C was 1g a day, and the dose of vitamin E was 335mg, or

about 370IU.

At the beginning of the study, all 60 women had inadequate levels of vitamin C,

and 57% had inadequate levels of vitamin E. By the end of the study, levels of

both were adequate in the supplement group but not in the placebo group.

Encouragingly, after 12 weeks, the women in the vitamin C and E group had

significantly greater improvement in arm lean mass, skeletal muscle mass,

handgrip strength and knee extension strength than the women in the placebo

group. They also had significantly greater improvement in markers of oxidative

stress and inflammation.

This study has important implications for older adults. But the true implications

may be even greater. Unfortunately, the study design used the synthetic dl-

alpha-tocopherol form of vitamin E. The results may have been even more

dramatic had it used the superior natural d-alpha-tocopherol form.

Medicine (Baltimore). 2025 Aug 22;104(34):e43976.