Vitamins & Minerals

Individual Vitamins and Minerals

What is vitamin E?

Vitamin E is the primary fat soluble ‘antioxidant’ in the body. As such its major roles arise from the its ability to neutralise harmful ‘free radicals’ which the body can generate during the process of creating energy but more particularly when there is any chronic inflammatory illness.
 
Vitamin E is often used to prevent some types of oil such as soybean, cod liver and fish oils from becoming rancid, and this is how vitamin E functions in the body - it stops our body fat from becoming rancid.
 
Increased risk of heart disease and stroke is associated with cholesterol in the body becoming rancid or ‘oxidised’ a process which can be prevented by vitamin E. For this reason vitamin E has been promoted as being beneficial in reducing cardiovascular disease risk.
 
Large clinical trials have set out to prove this effect, but to date despite much work, a conclusive answer remains elusive. Nevertheless, it is still true to say that the burden of evidence supports the positive role of vitamin E, particularly in the early stages of heart disease risk progression.

How much vitamin E do we need?

The RDA for vitamin E is 10mg per day, but interestingly the RDA in the USA is set higher at 15mg /day. This level is sufficient to prevent deficiency, but if the diet is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids such as corn or sunflower oil then greater intake is necessary to ensure protection of these oils from rancidity once in the body. For most diets in the UK about 30g per day of these types of oils are consumed and as 2mg of vitamin E is required to achieve this than the SC panel advises approximately 60mg per day.
 
However, for cardiovascular protection as we age and also for those with existing elevated risk factors for cardiovascular disease amounts of 130mg – 300mg are advised (approximately equivalent to 200 – 450iu).

Who should consider a vitamin E supplement?

Most basic multivitamins provide the 100% RDA level of vitamin E. Some of the higher potency multivitamins provide up to 50mg of vitamin E and these are worth considering as they will also provide higher potencies of other vitamins.
 
However, if levels above 60mg (approximately 100iu) are required then single vitamin E supplements are the best bet.
 
People who know they have high intakes of sunflower, corn and fish oils should consider boosting vitamin E intake to about 60mg (approximately 100iu) per day. People with known risk factors for cardiovascular disease should consider boosting levels to between 200-450iu.
 
One important consideration when taking a vitamin E supplement is to take it with a meal with significant fat content, as this at least doubles the absorption of this vitamin compared to taking the supplement with a non fat containing drink such as orange juice. Similarly, there is likely to be little difference in taking one 400iu vitamin supplement every 2 days rather than one 200iu supplement every day – this could be more cost effective and less arduous. Again the important point is to take the vitamin E with food which has a significant fat content.