Another study on Vitamin E was recently published.

I read an analysis of the study on Medscape. Researchers looked at Vitamin E’s ability to prevent cancer, especially lung cancer. The results of their study had similar results to the cardiovascular study of a few years ago. Vitamin E supplementation did not prevent cancer and in some instances seemed to enhance to chance of getting cancer. Why did this happen? Vitamin E is necessary to good health. Why would a study show it might be harmful? Probably for some of the same reasons it did not help heart disease.

What is in a supplement?

Vitamin E occurs naturally in eight different forms called tocopherols or tocotrienols. The alpha tocopherol is preferentially absorbed by the body but isn’t the only form you need for good health. The tocotienols seem to have a role in protecting the brain cells called neurons.

Supplement labels will show that the vitamin E is either d-alpha-tocopherol or dl-alpha-tocopherol. The “d” form is the naturally occurring form and is twice as potent as the “dl” form which is synthetic vitamin d.

In the cardiovascular study a high dose, “dl”, single tocopherol vitamin E was used. The research proved conclusively that that form was worse than none at all. I can’t say what form of vitamin E was used in the cancer study but I suspect that it may be similar.

What is the lesson?

Vitamin E supplements do not prevent serious cardiovascular disease or cancer. It isn’t entirely clear that being an antioxidant is Vitamin E’s main role. Its main role may be in cellular signaling. That may be one reason that it alone does not prevent a specific disease related to oxidation effects on tissue - like smoking and cancer.

What about the amount?

Another thing to consider is co-factors like selenium. For vitamin E to work properly there needs to be adequate selenium available. We also don’t know what happens to ratios - how much other vitamins and minerals must be present if we increase the amount of one much higher through specific supplementation.

Which foods have the most Vitamin E?

There is an excellent chart on an NIH site. Click on the link to access it. If you don’t have time right now here are a few tips for increasing Vitamin E through your diet.

The food with the most Vitamin E per serving is wheat germ oil with over 20 mg. per teaspoon. Other foods with around 5 mg. per serving are Almonds, 1oz., Sunflower seed kernels, 1oz. dry roasted, 1 tablespoon of sunflower or safflower oil.

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