Featured article | August 2025
Sex Differences in Vitamin Metabolism and Their Role in Oxidative Stress Regulation and Cardiometabolic Health
Joanna Wróblewska, et al., Nutrients 2025, 17, 2697
This review article explores how men and women differ in their metabolism, absorption, and requirements for key vitamins (A, D, E, K, B2, B12, and C), highlighting the role of hormones, genetics, and body composition in shaping vitamin needs and their influence on oxidative stress and cardiometabolic health.
The review emphasizes that personalized nutrition,tailored by sex, may optimize cardiometabolic health and help prevent chronic disease.
Discussed in the article:
- Vitamin A
- Men require more vitamin A because of higher muscle mass and greater energy metabolism.
- Women rely on vitamin A primarily for reproductive health and blood formation (hematopoiesis).
- Vitamin D
- Women are more prone to deficiency due to higher body fat, which traps vitamin D and reduces its availability.
- Estrogen increases vitamin D receptor (VDR) activity in women, offering protection for blood vessels.
- Vitamin E
- Men experience more oxidative stress and lipid damage, creating a stronger need for antioxidant protection.
- Vitamin E supplementation lowers oxidative stress markers more effectively in men than in women.
- Vitamin K
- Women with cardiovascular disease (CVD) often show stronger inflammatory responses than men.
- Blood-thinning therapies tend to have a stronger effect in women.
- Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)
- In women, deficiency increases the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. The decline in estrogen after menopause makes deficiency effects worse.
- Intake of vitamin B2 has been shown to lower the risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in men. The protective effect is especially notable in carriers of the NOX3 gene variant, which produces an enzyme involved in reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation.
- Vitamin B12
- In women, deficiency is strongly linked to cardiovascular risk. Women’s reproductive health needs make them more dependent on adequate B12. Oral contraceptives can lower B12 levels.
- In men, deficiency tends to affect cardiovascular health more through effects on blood pressure and inflammation.
- Vitamin C
- Women need vitamin C to support iron absorption, which is especially important during menstruation.
- Men generally require vitamin C more for antioxidant protection and metabolic functions.
Use of antioxidant vitamin supplements is associated with a more favorable cardiometabolic health profile, including improved lipid levels, glucose control, and reduced inflammation, particularly among long-term multiple supplement users.
Recognizing sex-specific differences in vitamin metabolism provides an opportunity to design more effective, personalized nutritional and supplementation strategies.
