06 Feb Vitamin E
Laatst bijgewerkt op 6, February 2019 by Sanne
Whoooy, today is the first English post. Time to celebrate this moment where my knowledge will be shared worldwide instead of with my dear tiny country Today’s post will be all about Vitamin E
Vitamin E is one of the fat-soluble vitamins. With that we mean that we need to eat it together with something that contains fat to be able to keep it within the body. Vitamin E and the other fat-soluble vitamins are stored in the body. The livers serves as a storage site for vitamins A,D and E (for 90%). The other 10% of vitamin E is found in cell membranes.
We should get 15 mg of vitamin E of an intake to be able to have our daily portion. This is for both men and women.
If you are searching for a supplement you might run in to two different names:
The natural form: d-alpha-tocopherol
The synthetic form: dl-alpha-tocopherol
In supplements containing the natural form of vitamin E, 1 IU is equal to 0.67 mg a- TE
In supplements containing the synthetic form of vitamin E, 1 IU is equal to 0.45 mg a- TE
Why is vitamin E so important for you?
The main function of vitamin E is as an antioxidant: it donates an electron to free radicals, stabilizing them and preventing them from destabilizing other molecules. Once vitamin E is oxidized, it is either excreted from the body or recycled back to into active vitamin E. Beside that it tajes care of:
It protects polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA’S) and other fatty components of our cells and celmembranes from being oxidized.
Secondly it protects LDL’S for being oxidized, thereby lowering the risk of heart disease
Protects the membranes of red blood cells from oxidation and plays a critical role in protecting the cells of our lungs, which are constantly exposed to oxygen and the potentially damaging effects of oxidation
It is critical for normal fetal and early childhood development of nerves and muscles, as well as for maintenance of their functions.
It protects white blood cells and other components of the immune system, thereby helping the body defend against illness and disease.
Vitamin E improves the absorption of vitamin A if the dietary intake of vitamin A is low.
The tolerable upper intake level (UL) is 1,000 mg alpha-tocopherol per day. One of the main roles of vitamin E is to protect UFA’S from oxidation. Thus our need for vitamine E increases as we eat more oils or other foods that contain PUFA’S. However, bare in mind that you really dont want to take overdosis. 1,000 mg is over 66 times of the daily dosage. You can take more than 15 mg if you are recovering from any illness to give the body a little push in the right direction. But never go into the direction that your intake will be so much that you will create the side effects of it. If you consume only food in a normal way, you’ll not be able to poison yourself with vitamin E.
Even though it’s not super common, deficiencies in vitamine E do occurs. This is mostly caused by the liver, gallbladder or pancreas is not working properly. Meaning that fat and the fat-soluble vitamins (including vitamin E) cannot be absorbed, leading to their deficiency. There are a lot of ways to find out if this is the case for you. Simply check your stool out and see if your poop is fatty and if it leaves marks in the toilet. If this is the case, you know that you need to change something drasticly. Also a bloated belly can shows you that something in that area is not right.
Foods that contains vitamin E
Spreads, salad dressings, mayonnaise from vegetable oils, safflower oil, sunflower oil, canola oil and soybean oil. Nuts, avocado’s, cereals, sunflower seeds, peanut butter, guacomole, spinach, marinara sauce. And in very very limited amount are found in animal products and dairy.
Fast foods and deep fried food barely contains vitamins.
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. I have the best of interest to support you to a healthy and happy lifestyle. However, if you notice side effects address your doctor and stop with every supplement that you may take.
As I don´t always know where to write about, you can always pop a comment with ideas for the upcoming posts. If you´re interested in learning a bunch of new stuff out, I would definetly suggest you to do so.