Do You Need Vitamin E? Seven Benefits

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Do You Need Vitamin E? Find Out Seven Benefits Now
By Dr. Joseph Mercola
with Rachael Droege

Vitamin E is one of the few supplements that most everyone* would benefit from, and while I don’t recommend many supplements, I have believed in the benefits of vitamin E for over 30 years and have been taking it for many of those years. In addition to its powerful antioxidant properties, vitamin E:

· Reduces heart disease risk
· May lower risk of asthma and allergies
· May help treat menstrual pain
· Improves circulation in diabetics
· Helps prevent prostate and breast cancers
· Is good for your brain
· May help hot flashes

However, controversies have surrounded vitamin E ever since its discovery in 1922 and there is still much discussion over what type of vitamin E is best. Dietary vitamin E is found in certain nuts and green leafy vegetables, but many Americans do not consume vitamin E -- adequate diets.

Because of this, I believe that, ideally, vitamin E should be consumed in the broader family of mixed tocopherols and tocotrienols. Vitamin E is comprised of two groups of molecules, tocopherols and tocotrienols, each with four forms (alpha-, beta-, gamma-, and delta-tocopherol, and alpha-, beta-, gamma- and delta-tocotrienol). Each form has its own potency and functional use in the body.

Research is beginning to focus on specific tocopherols and tocotrienols, rather than on just "vitamin E," and studies are emerging that suggest tocotrienols, found in palm, rice bran and barley oils, could be the most important part of vitamin E, and a form of vitamin E called full-spectrum vitamin E, which contains a mixture of tocopherols (alpha, beta, delta, and gamma) and tocotrienols (alpha, beta, delta, and gamma), may be needed to protect against disease and provide maximum benefits.

Nonetheless, the vitamin E most often referred to and sold in most stores is a synthetic form called dl-alpha-tocopherol, and I DO NOT recommend synthetic vitamin E.

Omega-3 is a delicate fat that combines with oxygen and breaks down in your body. The antioxidant properties of vitamin E interfere with that break down process, thereby protecting the body from potential lipid peroxidation.

Who Needs Vitamin E?

I do believe that most people would benefit from adding extra vitamin E to their diets. Beyond this, certain circumstances may increase your need for vitamin E even more. If you are following a low-fat diet, it’s important to realize that vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin--if you don’t eat fat, it will be hard for your body to absorb the vitamin into your bloodstream.

Vitamin E can be depleted not only by following a low-fat diet, but also by taking the following drugs:

· Cholestyramine Resin (Questran)
· Colestipol (Colestid)
· Isoniazid
· Mineral oil

If you fall into one of these categories, it is especially important that you get enough vitamin E. Protein metabolic types, who are typically fast oxidizers, also seem to require larger amounts of vitamin E than most.
The optimum dose of vitamin E you should take varies widely, from 100 to 800 units per day, depending on your metabolic type, so I urge you to find out your type for best results when using vitamin E.

Vitamin E is particularly helpful if you are a protein Metabolic type. The ideal form of vitamin E is a full-spectrum variety including both tocotrienols and tocopherols. So I suggest you consider using a vitamin E supplement that combines both of these products.

*CAUTION: Vitamin E should not be given to certain brain damaged children, such as those with some types of autism. In these cases, accumulations of long chain fats require oxidation to remove them and this will be impaired by vitamin E, making the chronic disease worse.