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Vitamin E (tocopherol): how to take? Video
Vitamin E, like A, D, and K, is a fat-soluble vitamin that is metabolized and stored in your body’s fat cells. It acts as an antioxidant and helps protect against chronic disease. You can get enough vitamin E from your diet, but sometimes additional doses are needed and must be carefully calculated.
How to take vitamin E correctly: video tip
The health benefits of vitamin E
Vitamin E is good for the immune system, helping it fight viruses, bacteria and free radicals. Acting as an antioxidant, the vitamin is helpful in preventing certain types of degenerative diseases and cancers. Vitamin E also promotes the expansion of blood vessels and keeps blood clotting under control. Vitamin E is essential for the structural and functional activity of skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscles. It also assists in the formation of red blood cells and helps maintain proper levels of vitamins A and K, iron and selenium. For women, vitamin E is the very vitamin that allows you to preserve the smoothness of the skin, the strength of the nails, and the beauty of the hair.
Since vitamin E is fat-soluble, it is better absorbed when taken with food containing some fat.
Overdose and vitamin E deficiency
Vitamin E deficiency is rare and can occur in people with decreased intestinal fat absorption (due to surgery, Crohn’s disease, cystic fibrosis), prolonged malnutrition, very low fat diets, or several specific genetic diseases.
The consequences of prolonged vitamin E overdose are dizziness, fatigue, headache, weakness, blurred vision, abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, and flu-like symptoms. In some cases, seizures may occur. An overdose of vitamin A is dangerous for patients with cardiovascular diseases, since, according to some reports, it can increase the risk of death from heart failure. In rare cases, an overdose of vitamin E leads to sexual dysfunction and decreased kidney function.
The combination of high doses of vitamins C and E may increase the risk of gestational hypertension (high blood pressure during pregnancy) and result in a low birth weight baby
Dosing vitamin E correctly can be a little confusing as there are various ways to measure vitamin E content. Recommendations for use, as well as the dosage of the vitamin in drops, tablets, fortified foods can be indicated in both milligrams (mg) and international units (IU). At the same time, natural vitamin E (D-alpha-tocopherol) is more active, that is, it is better absorbed than synthetic vitamin E (DL-alpha-tocopherol). To convert mg to IU, you should know that 1 mg of alpha-tocopherol is equivalent to 1,49 IU in natural form or 2,22 IU in synthetic form. For the reverse conversion of IU to mg – 1 IU of alpha-tocopherol is equivalent to 0,67 mg of vitamin E in natural form or 0,45 mg in synthetic form.
The recommended doses are divided into three types: – the recommended average daily intake (this dosage refers to those who are sure that there is enough vitamin in their diet); – adequate intake (this is guided by those who doubt that they are consuming enough vitamin E); – the upper allowable level or maximum daily dose (for an adult healthy person, this is approximately 1000 mg or 1500 IU).
Vitamin E deficiency must be treated under strict medical supervision
The recommended average daily dose of vitamin E for children from one to three years old is 3 mg per day (6 IU), for children 9–4 years old it is 8 mg per day (7 IU), for children aged 10,5 to 9 years old – 13 mg per day (11 IU), for everyone over 16,5 years old – 14 mg per day (15 IU) and for lactating women at any age – 22,5 mg (19 IU).
It is better to drink a vitamin in synthetic form after meals, but since capsules and drops usually already contain some dose of fat, this is not necessary.
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