Articles > Benefits of Vitamin E

Will you get enough of the antioxidant vitamin E today? Enough to prevent free radical damage to your body? Enough to retard cholesterol build-up in your arteries? Enough to boost your immune function and prevent certain types of cancer? You will if you do one of the following:

Drink 2 quarts of corn oil
Eat 5 pounds of wheat germ, 8 cups of almonds, or 28 cups of peanuts
Take a 400 IU vitamin E supplement

Vitamin E--found in vegetable oils (soybean, sunflower and corn) nuts and seeds, whole grains, wheat germs, and some vegetables--is a fat-soluble vitamin mainly used by your body as an antioxidant.

Rusting Like a Nail

Most bodily damage involves oxidation. Ultra-violet light ages eyes and skin by oxidation. Air pollutants damage lungs by oxidation. Many man-made drugs and chemicals destroy cells by oxidation. Even exercise causes increased oxidation. Oxidation is caused by free radicals, unstable atoms or molecules, usually of oxygen, that damage everything they touch. A stable atom always has its electrons in pairs, but the free radical has an unpaired electron in an outer orbit around its nucleus. This unstable configuration creates a powerful electromagnetic attraction that sucks an electron out of the nearest whole molecule of any material it touches. Upon losing an electron, that molecule becomes a new free radical, which sucks an electron from the next whole molecule, and so on. This sequence continues over and over, creating a free radical chain reaction of damage.

Vitamin E to the Rescue

Besides causing a multitude of other offenses against human health, free radicals are the main culprits underlying cardiovascular disease. Growing evidence in the medical literature suggests that oxidation of the LDL (the bad form of cholesterol) plays a very important role in hardening of the arteries. Briefly, here's how it works: Excess free radicals in the bloodstream oxidize particles of LDL. Immune system cells in the arterial walls recognize the oxidized LDLs as toxic to the body and gobble them up. When the immune cells become overloaded with LDLs, they break down into pathological cells called foam cells. The foam cells attach readily to the vessel wall and start the process of hardening of the arteries. Studies have shown very consistently that Vitamin E reduces the risk of LDL cholesterol being oxidized and therefore attaching to the cell wall. Because it is fat soluble, Vitamin E can get inside the LDL cholesterol molecule where it inhibits hazardous oxidation, thus slowing or halting the inception of coronary artery disease. In one study of 121,000 female registered nurses, the risk of coronary artery disease in women who took vitamin E supplements was about 40 percent lower than those who did not take vitamin E supplements. The risk reduction was seen only in women who got their vitamin E through vitamin E supplements--not multi-vitamin supplements, and certainly not through food alone.

Why You Must Supplement

The protected nurses in the previously-mentioned study were taking at least 100 IUs (international units) of vitamin E daily. Most were taking 400 IUs. It's just not possible to get 400 IUs of vitamin E through food alone, not without consuming ridiculous amounts of fat. The typical American diet provides only about 8 to 10 IUs of vitamin E. In addition, much of the vitamin E in food is destroyed during processing. So you must supplement.

How Much and What Kind?

The most biologically active form of vitamin E is known as alpha tocopherol. A d before alpha tocopherol means it's from natural sources; a dl means it's synthetic. Some researchers regard natural vitamin E as superior, while others believe that synthetic Vitamin E is just as effective at blocking dangerous oxidation of LDL cholesterol. Of the natural sources of vitamin E, the most potent is d-alpha tocopherol succinate. Following the lead of a nurse in this case may lead to much more than clean arteries. In addition to guarding against coronary artery disease, vitamin E has been shown to boost immune function generally. And new evidence suggests that vitamin E inhibits the growth of cancer cells. Pass the peanuts.

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