Serum alpha-tocopherol concentrations and risk of type 1 diabetes mellitus: a cohort study in siblings of affected children.
Uusitalo, Liisa;
Knip, Mikael;
Kenward, Michael G;
Alfthan, Georg;
Sundvall, Jouko;
Aro, Antti;
Reunanen, Antti;
Akerblom, Hans K;
Virtanen, Suvi M;
Childhood Diabetes in Finland Study Group;
(2005)
Serum alpha-tocopherol concentrations and risk of type 1 diabetes mellitus: a cohort study in siblings of affected children.
The Journal of pediatric endocrinology, 18 (12).
pp. 1409-1416.
ISSN 0334-018X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jpem.2005.18.12.1409
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Animal models have indicated that alpha-tocopherol may protect against type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1). Epidemiological data on the subject are scarce. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association of serum alpha-tocopherol concentration and risk of DM1 in a cohort of initially non-diabetic siblings of children affected by DM1 (n = 722). We used two study designs: 1) Siblings who progressed to DM1 were compared with control siblings who remained negative for DM1-associated autoantibodies in a nested case-control study design. 2) All siblings with DM1-associated autoantibodies were prospectively followed for DM1. In both designs, high concentrations of serum alpha-tocopherol tended to be associated with a lower risk of DM1 (p = 0.08 and 0.09, respectively). Although the results did not reach statistical significance, they support the hypothesis that high alpha-tocopherol levels may protect against DM1.