Argan Oil and Postmenopausal Moroccan Women: Impact on the Vitamin E Profile

Abstract

Vitamin E supplements could be beneficial for postmenopausal women. To evaluate the effect of edible argan oil consumption on the antioxidant status of postmenopausal women, the vitamin E serum level of 151 menopausal women consuming either olive or argan oil was determined. Serum level of vitamin E was increased in the argan oil consumer group. Therefore, an argan oil-enriched diet can be recommended to help prevent some postmenopausal disorders.

The effect of dietary and/or cosmetic argan oil on postmenopausal skin elasticity

“…In addition to its antioxidant properties, 36 vitamin E can act on skin elasticity by the downregulation of TGFβ, 37 resulting in a signal inducing fibroblasts to produce more collagen and elastic fibers necessary for the normal appearance and integrity of skin. Treatment with argan oil has increased the level of vitamin E in postmenopausal women’s blood more than treatment with olive oil, 38 which can explain the improvement of skin elasticity with argan oil treatment found in our study results. Ferulic acid is a phenolic compound found in argan and olive oil for some authors, 33 and absent in olive oil composition for the others, 34 , 35 known by its antioxidant properties.…”

Ethnobotanic, Ethnopharmacologic Aspects and New Phytochemical Insights into Moroccan Argan Fruits

“…The analysis of the data indicated an increase of paraoxanase 1 (PON1) activities coupled with an increase of plasma vitamin E concentration [ 103 ]. Some years later, the vitamin E serum level of 151 menopausal women consuming either olive or argan oil was determined, and in the argan oil consumer group, Vitamin E serum level was increased [ 104 ]. In another study carried out on 60 young and healthy male volunteers aged between 23 and 40 years old, consumption of argan oil showed, after three weeks of intake, a significant increase in serum concentration levels of the androgen hormones includingtestosterone and luteinizing hormone [ 105 ].…”