Vitamin Supplements

Vitamin E Health Merits

Keeping up with all of the recent research into the potential health benefits of vitamin E is difficult. The impressive findings of the best of this research, however, are impossible to ignore.

Vitamin E against Cancer

A growing body of research indicates that vitamin E can provide protection against a variety of cancers, including oral, lung, cervical, and breast cancers. For example, an eight-year Finnish study of 36,265 adults concluded that individuals with low blood levels of alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) were 1.5 times more likely to develop cancer than people with higher amounts. Read the rest of this entry »

If you answer yes to any of the following questions, you (or your baby) have an above-average risk of developing a vitamin E deficiency

• Do you have any of the following chronic illnesses: cystic fibrosis, pancreatitis, biliary cirrhosis, or Crohn’s disease? These illnesses can produce vitamin E deficiencies, particularly when they interfere with absorption of fat from the intestines. In general, however, this poor absorption must persist for five to ten years before signs of a deficiency occur.

• Is your diet high in polyunsaturated fatty acids (found in corn, safflower, and sunflower oil)? Vitamin E protects these unsaturated fats from oxidation. When you consume more of them, you need extra vitamin E to maintain this protective role.

• Are you on a weight-loss (e.g. low-fat, low-calorie) diet? Inadequate amounts of vitamin E might be consumed while dieting.

• Do you take certain medications that interfere with vitamin E absorption? Most commonly, these deficits occur with mineral oil and particular anticholesterol drugs such as cholestyramine and colestipol, when they are taken for long periods of time.

• Do you smoke cigarettes? Smoking increases the likelihood of vitamin E insufficiency

• Are you exposed to air pollution? Living in a community with high levels of smog and other environmental pollutants can increase the need for vitamin E.

• Are you pregnant or breast-feeding? Extra vitamin E is necessary to ensure proper fetal growth. The RDAs advise a 25 percent increase of this vitamin during pregnancy. Women who are nursing should increase the dose even more.

• Was your baby born prematurely, with a low birth weight? A preterm infant may have difficulty absorbing vitamin E and may also have low amounts of the vitamin stored in the liver.

Vitamin E has grabbed its share of headlines in recent years. In fact, few nutrients have been the subject of as much discussion as this one. According to the most zealous vitamin proponents, vitamin E is nothing short of a magic pill capable of everything from enhancing one’s sex life to stopping the aging process in its tracks.

You shouldn’t be surprised to learn that many of these claims have little if any scientific support behind them. Still, a growing body of evidence shows that vitamin E does have significant health benefits. This will help you sort scientific fact from fiction regarding this much-discussed vitamin. Read the rest of this entry »