Vitamin E

Vitamin E is something of an umbrella term given to eight different chemical forms of fat-soluble nutrients all found in nature (or available as dietary supplements) whose primary function is to act as powerful antioxidants, that is as agents critical in protecting cells from long-term damage. Vitamin E plays an important role in metabolism, the immune system, and other aspects of health.

Although research in the area is contradictory, inconsistent, and incomplete, nutritionists and dietitians have investigated potential links between vitamin E and the body’s attempts to slow down and even prevent potentially catastrophic conditions, including progressive arterial disease; dementia, memory loss, and cognitive disorders including Alzheimer’s disease; colorectal and pancreatic cancers; and several degenerative eye disorders, most notably macular degeneration. But it is the potential impact vitamin E might have on slowing the aging process—most notably its effects actually visible on the skin—that has attracted the most attention from consumers long interested in finding a real-world Fountain of Youth.

Background

Understanding vitamin E’s work as an antioxidant begins at the molecular level where skin damage and cell compromise begin. Ironically, oxygen, the life-giving element upon which humans depend, is the culprit. Molecular interaction with oxygen or, more precisely, interaction with agents and particulates in the oxygen (such as cigarette smoke, industrial pollutants, viruses, or the sun’s UV rays), introduces a variety of elements that can negatively impact the cell’s growth and integrity. As long as molecules are properly paired in the cell membrane, the ongoing business of the body’s systems remains intact. Damage the integrity of the cell membrane and the cell’s vital functions are jeopardized.

When a molecule in the cell membrane goes unpaired, that is, it drops an electron, the molecule becomes a free radical, which is highly reactive and eager to bond. To restore its own stability and structural soundness, the free radical bonds with the most readily available molecule. Oxygen molecules permeate the body and are the easiest targets for free radicals, which have an unshared electron. However, bonding results in the target molecule becoming a free radical, and a chain reaction is produced, accounting over time for—among other potentially catastrophic long-term conditions—the accumulation of cancerous cells and the slow process of cell deterioration known as aging. An antioxidant, such as vitamin E, contributes a spare electron to the process, thus, theoretically, halting the domino effect.

Vitamin E has been studied for arterial damage, epilepsy, cataracts, asthma, ulcers, post-menopausal symptoms, the debilitating effects of chemotherapy, fertility and impotency, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS, but evidence does not support its use as an effective treatment for most of these conditions. Indeed, by assisting cells in resisting the negative impact of oxygen, vitamin E has been touted as an overall energy lift, but there is limited evidence supporting increases in endurance and stamina. Of the documented antioxidants, vitamin E is one of the most important antioxidants, largely because it is so readily available naturally in a variety of foodstuffs and thus can be a basic element in any healthy diet. Indeed, vitamin E deficiency is among the rarest vitamin disorders, affecting for the most part only premature babies (who receive a carefully monitored doses through fortified breast milk or specific dietary supplements) and those impacted by chronic and severe metabolic and digestive disorders, most notably cystic fibrosis and Crohn’s disease.

Overview

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends the average adult take in 15 milligrams of vitamin E each day. Because of its potential as a preventative for so many conditions—many of them unsubstantiated by hard data—vitamin E is among the most heralded and promoted supplements on the market. However, a common sense diet can provide all the vitamin E the body can use. Dietitians have found that excessive consumption of vitamin E may increase the risk of bleeding and that it does not improve the vitamin’s efficacy. However, if taken as a supplement, vitamin E can potentially increase the risk of bleeding and negatively interact with certain medications, particularly blood thinners such as warfarin.

Vitamin E is found in most green leafy vegetables, such as broccoli and spinach; nuts and seeds, most notably sunflower seeds; most cereals made from whole grains; beans; avocados; and vegetable oils such as olive oil used for food preparation and seasoning. In addition, because vitamin E is soluble in fat, it can also be found in varying, smaller amounts in eggs and poultry as well as oily, fatty seafood such as sardines. Therein rests a potential diet dilemma—nutritionists caution not to build up vitamin E reserves simply by carelessly consuming those foods also high in calories, thus largely offsetting the benefits of the vitamin by accumulating excess and unnecessary fat.

In many ways, the story of vitamin E is a story less of molecular transactions and body health and more a study in the psychological need people have to reverse the body’s tendency to decline, get sick, and to die. Vitamin E has been heralded as a panacea able to repair virtually any problem facing baby boomers from memory loss to erectile dysfunction, from heart disease to skin cancer, from insomnia to hot flashes. Because it generally protects cells and their proper functions, vitamin E has been marketed as promoting virtually any normative body function. Bold claims that the vitamin can actually reverse such processes or delay them or even prevent them are not supported by current evidence. Hundreds of studies, many of them promoted on websites without FDA investigation or approval, pander to the understandable fears and anxieties of consumers as they grow older. But the reality is far less glamorous than the marketing suggests. In 2022, the US Preventive Services Task Force recommended against using vitamin E supplements to prevent cancer or cardiovascular disease in community-dwelling, nonpregnant adults. Vitamin E, introduced into the body through a sensible diet, can simply help the body’s critical operations maintain their molecular integrity.

Bibliography

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