Why You Need Vitamin E ... Nature’s Secret “Lost Science”
No One Has Told You About
by www.SixWise.com
You’ve probably heard of vitamin E. You might also know that it’s a powerful antioxidant that helps your body destroy harmful free radicals. But beyond that, there’s a good chance you don’t know exactly why it’s so uniquely important to get adequate amounts of vitamin E on a daily basis, as to how it can benefit your health …
You probably also weren’t aware that most people’s diets do NOT provide the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) of vitamin E, which is 15 mg a day for adults, according to the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements. It’s estimated that up to 93 percent of Americans are not getting enough “E”!
Further, this RDA only takes into account alpha-tocopherol, which is only one of the EIGHT types of vitamin E that may be beneficial to include in your diet (alpha-, beta-, gamma-, and delta-tocopherol and alpha-, beta-, gamma-, and delta-tocotrienol).
What Exactly is Vitamin E and Why is it Important Health Wise?
Vitamin E is a group of fat-soluble compounds that act as antioxidants in your body. Most notably about E, is that it:
- Stops the production of reactive oxygen species (free radicals) that are created when food is digested and also absorbed in your body from external sources such as air pollution and cigarette smoke. This helps prevent damage to cells.
- Helps dilate blood vessels and inhibits platelet aggregation, which may reduce the risk of clot formation as well as heart attack and stroke.
Heart:
Vitamin E also shows promise for helping support your heart health. It’s been shown that proper high quality vitamin E reduces the risk of heart attack, stroke and coronary artery disease by helping to reduce cholesterol and plaque buildup. One study also found that heart disease rates were 30 percent to 40 percent lower among people with the highest intakes of vitamin E, primarily from supplementation.
Cancer:
Because vitamin E helps protect your cells from damage, it may also be useful for preventing cancer. Research has shown that vitamin E helps reduce the risk of bladder cancer up to 50 percent, as well as inhibits the proliferation of prostate cancer cells.
Further, a form of vitamin E called tocotrienols, and especially delta-tocotrienols, inhibits human breast cancer cells by causing apoptosis (cancerous cell death).
University of Texas, Austin researchers noted that delta-tocotrienol, found in palm oil, was the most potent inducer of cell death, causing apoptosis in breast cancer cells at a rate twice that of gamma-tocotrienol.
A study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute also found that prostate cancer risks went down significantly with high levels of vitamin E. Specifically, men with the highest levels of alpha-tocopherol in their blood were 51 percent less likely to develop prostate cancer while those with the highest levels of gamma-tocopherol were 43 percent less likely to develop the disease.
Skin:
Vitamin E plays a special role in protecting your skin from ultraviolet radiation from the sun, both when applied topically and ingested via food or supplements. Vitamin E has even been called the “lightening rod” of your cells because UV light can hit it without causing damage to your cells.
Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia:
Patients with higher intakes of vitamin E had a 25 percent lower risk of developing dementia, compared with patients with the lowest vitamin E intakes, a new study found.
Research by Rush University's Martha Clare Morris, Sc.D, of the Chicago Health and Aging Project also found that people with the highest intakes of vitamin E had a 67 percent lower risk of Alzheimer's disease.
Eyes:
The risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD), one of the most common causes of vision loss in the elderly, is about 20 percent lower in people with high dietary intakes of vitamin E, compared to those with low intakes. It’s also been shown that taking a combination of vitamin E, vitamin C, beta-carotene and copper may slow the progression of the disease in people at the early stages.
Muscles:
Sarcopenia, or age-related loss of muscle mass, impacts 45 percent of people over the age of 60, and more than half of those over 80. A study by Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions found that alpha-tocopherol and carotenoid, another nutrient, lead to higher strength measures among women aged 70-79.
A separate study also looked into the amino acid leucine’s decreasing ability to boost the production of muscle mass in aging rats. Several antioxidants, including vitamin E, were able to reverse this process, essentially leading to a decline in muscle mass, ie sarcopenia.
How to Make the Most of Your Vitamin E Intake
You should always strive to get your vitamins and minerals from healthy food sources, but in the case of vitamin E this can be difficult.
Vitamin E is found naturally in nuts, vegetable and palm oils, wheat germ oil, and green leafy vegetables, but most dietary sources only include gamma-tocopherol. Further, up to 90 percent of the vitamin E in commercially processed wheat may be removed during processing (most vitamin E is in the germ layer, which is typically removed in commercial breads, pastas and baked goods).
Tocotrienols, another beneficial form of vitamin E, are especially difficult to get from dietary sources because although palm oil and rice bran oil contain high amounts, they also contain tocopherol, which inhibits the absorption of tocotrienols.
Most supplements on the market are not the answer either because they usually contain just alpha-tocopherol.
Studies are suggesting that a mixed source of tocopherols and a separate source of tocotrienols may actually be most beneficial for health purposes.
For instance, as World’s Healthiest Foods reported, Martha Clare Morris, Sc.D concluded that "various tocopherol forms rather than alpha-tocopherol alone may be important in the vitamin E protective association with Alzheimer's disease."
It’s also been found that a combination of gamma-tocopherol, delta-tocopherol and other forms of vitamin E induced cell death most effectively in prostate cancer cells, whereas alpha-tocopherol alone did not.
To ensure you’re getting the full spectrum of vitamin E, in a form that your body will be able to absorb, supplementation with a high-quality, mixed tocopherol and separate tocotrienols is essential, and we’re extremely excited to introduce two top-notch vitamin E products from MyACGrace.com to help you do just that:
- UNIQUE E® Mixed Tocopherols Concentrate (OPTIMUM E COMPLEX): Each 700mg beef soft-gel capsule contains the highest concentration of the complete Vitamin E tocopherol complex — HIGH-Gamma, HIGH-Alpha, with Beta and Delta isomers — completely void of fillers or additives that can turn rancid. This all-natural, PURE Vitamin E concentrate consists of the natural form of Vitamin E as obtained through the diet and as used by the body.
UNIQUE E® Mixed Tocopherols softgels contain 400 I.U. of alpha-tocopherol along with at least 300mg of gamma-tocopherol and proprietary amounts of beta- and delta-tocopherol -- providing a full spectrum of ALL tocopherols mixed for maximum potency and vitamin E benefit.
- UNIQUE E® Tocotrienols: Each beef softgel capsule contains High-Delta and Gamma Tocotrienols derived from the Annatto Bean and contains the highest concentrates of tocotrienols at 125 mg per gel capsule. Unlike products derived from palm or rice bran oil, these tocotrienols contain no tocopherols — which have been shown to inhibit assimilation of tocotrienols in the body. Taking them separately achieves maximum benefits.
What Makes Unique E So “Unique”?
Most vitamin E supplements on the market are the synthetic version, which is listed on labels as dl alpha-tocopheryl. Made from petrochemicals, synthetic vitamin E is less bioavailable to your body and less beneficial.
Natural vitamin E is now recognized to provide two times the IU value of an equal amount of synthetic vitamin E. According to the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements:
“A given amount of synthetic alpha-tocopherol (listed on labels as "DL" or "dl") is … only half as active as the same amount (by weight in mg) of the natural form (labeled as "D" or "d"). People need approximately 50% more IU of synthetic alpha tocopherol from dietary supplements and fortified foods to obtain the same amount of the nutrient as from the natural form.”
So when searching for the best vitamin E supplements, it’s essential to choose a natural form, which will be listed on labels as d-alpha-tocopherol, or RRR-alpha-tocopherol. Unique E is made of only all-natural vitamin E.
Ideally, you should take “UNIQUE E” Mixed Tocopherols with your morning meal and “UNIQUE E” Tocotrienols with your evening meal to take advantage of the full range of benefits vitamin E has to offer. It’s important to take this supplement with a meal because it is a fat-soluble vitamin, meaning it requires dietary fat in order to be properly absorbed.
If you have a health condition that interferes with your body’s ability to absorb fat, such as pancreatic disease, celiac disease, or gallbladder disease, you may therefore also have trouble absorbing vitamin E.
Keep in mind, too, that more is not necessarily better when it comes to vitamin E. High intakes of alpha tocopherol, in excess of 3,000 IU or more, have been linked to toxic effects including cramps, diarrhea, muscle weakness, fatigue and double vision. And because “vitamin E alpha tocopherol” is an anticoagulant, taking excessive amounts of alpha tocopherol may increase the risk of bleeding problems. Before taking any other anticoagulant with “vitamin E alpha tocopherol” check first with your physician.
Other forms of vitamin E, such as the above “Vitamin E Mixed Tocopherols” and “Vitamin E Tocotrienols,” have not been linked to these effects, even at high doses.
SixWise Says ...
If you’re deficient in important vitamins and minerals, the problem is typically not a lack of food, but rather a lack of nutritious foods that supply the vitamins and minerals your body depends on to function.
“E” is not always just for “effort”! In fact “E for effort” may be a waste of money or worse, it could be unhealthy if synthetically unnatural!
Recommended Reading
The 10 Vitamins & Other Nutrients That can be HARMFUL When Taken in Excess
The Seven Nutrients Americans are Most Deficient In & How to Get Them
Sources
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NewsMaxHealth.com July 27, 2010
Nutraingredients-usa.com March 3, 2005
NPICenter.com March 15, 2000
The World’s Healthiest Foods, Vitamin E
National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements, Vitamin E
Aging Clinical and Experimental Research 2003 Dec;15(6):482-7.
The Journal of Nutrition 2008 Nov;138(11):2205-11.
JAMA. 2005;294:3101-3107.