ABSTRACT
Oxidative stress is the state that intimates a causative factor in accelerated cell aging and premature cell death. Our purpose was to study the ability of vitamin B1, C and E in reducing the oxidative stress. In this experiment, we divided the normal subjects into three groups. The first group was supplemented with vitamin B1 (30 mg/day). We found that the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and amount of malonyldialdehyde (MDA) reduced significantly when compared with controls (pre-treatment). However, these values increased gradually after supplemented vitamin B1 cessation. The determination of plasma vitamin C and E was also performed and found that vitamin C content increased significantly, but vitamin E level remained constant throughout the experiment. The second group was supplemented with vitamin C (300 mg/day). The enzyme SOD activity, MDA and vitamin E contents were not statistically different during the period of experiment. Nevertheless, the level of plasma vitamin C increased significantly. The last group was supplemented with vitamin E (100 mg/day) with their results equivalent to vitamin B1’s. In addition to these findings, we found that these three vitamins have not effect on hematological data of normal subjects. These results signified that the appropriate antioxidants to prevent oxidant stress were vitamin B1 and E. For vitamin C, it could not reduce oxidative stress, but tended to enhance oxidant stress in the cells.