Not so E z.

Critical Information on Vitamin E

Diets rich in vitamin E reduce heart disease and cancer risk. In the 1950s a Canadian cardiologist showed that vitamin E extracted from food could reverse heart disease. However, two recent scientific studies, both published in JAMA, say vitamin E doesn’t work and may even be unsafe. So what’s the right answer?

Vitamin E is found naturally in 8 forms, 4 of which the FDA officially calls vitamin E. The vitamin E in diet studies and the 1950s studies used all forms of vitamin E, and the two JAMA studies used only one form called alpha tocopherol.

Let me draw an analogy with the vision test given to children not yet able to read. The child is asked to form the letter “E” with three fingers and then show in which direction the eye chart “E” is pointing: forwards, backwards, up, or down. The eye-chart sequence E E E E is not used because it would measure guessing ability as well as vision. Testing only alpha tocopherol and generalizing about all forms of vitamin E is analogous to the eye-chart sequence E E E E.

When the JAMA-published scientists were asked the rationale for studying but one of eight forms of vitamin E, they simply said they used the form found in most vitamin supplements. Meanwhile the vitamin supplement companies say their product is based on scientific studies. The tail wags the dog.

Supplements contain alpha-tocopherol because it is the most powerful of the 8 forms in lab bench testing. The lab test is a modern day version of the original lab test, the amount of vitamin E required to prevent fetal reabsorption (a type of miscarriage which does not occur in humans) in rabbits. Seriously, alpha tocopherol was the first (hence, alpha) identified form of vitamin E, discovered because deficiency caused rabbits to stop reproducing like rabbits. “Toco-pherol” is derived from the Greek words for offspring (tokos) and carrying (pherein).

Is supplemental alpha tocopherol safe? Any vitamin containing dl-alpha-tocopherol is synthetic and probably unsafe. Discard the vitamin because the company is making things as cheap as possible, knowingly saving money at the expense of health! The natural d-alpha-tocopherol (no “l”) is considered safe up to 400 IU a day in adults. At higher doses this one form of vitamin E overpowers the other forms, analogous to 30 unmuted trumpets playing in the symphony. Choose supplements with mixed tocopherols and tocotrienols, as these contain 4 to 8 forms of vitamin E.

Why not eat more vitamin E? Snack on nuts instead of chips or pastries. Grind the tan rice-sized flax seeds in the coffee grinder and then sprinkle them on yogurt, oatmeal or salad. Buy cooking and salad oils which are unrefined and free of hydrogenated (trans) fats. When you snack on nuts, sprinkle sunflower seeds on salad, and add toasted sesame oil to a stir-fry you eat all 8 tocopherols and tocotrienols. I hope that makes a currently controversial topic E-asy.