Ensuring that your body receives the recommended quantity of vitamins through your diet or supplements is crucial for a healthy and an active life. Vitamin-E possesses properties that make it truly remarkable. Let’s understand this Vitamin better through its properties, benefits, side effects, and deficiency symptoms.
Vitamin-E at a glance
The term Vitamin E refers to eight different compounds, out of which alpha-tocopherol is the most active one in a human body. The generic name for vitamin E is tocopherol. Vitamin E plays an important role in our immune system and metabolic processes. Its anti-oxidant properties help reduce damage from free radicals and protect the body cells from deterioration. Free radicals are unstable molecules that stabilize themselves by stealing electrons from your cells and causing potential structural damage.
Due to its antioxidant property, Vitamin E possesses an extra electron which it gives to free radical molecules without impairing their own stability. Vitamin E is fat soluble; stored in the body and made available whenever needed.
Vitamin-E finds popular use in dermatology because of its properties which help protect the skin against aging, inflammation, and sun damage.
It is best to get your requirement of Vitamin E from natural sources like fresh fruits and vegetables, although a shortfall in it can be made up through supplements too.
Vitamin E- Health Benefits
The benefits of Vitamin E are widespread, varying from your skin health to your heart health, better vision, lustrous hair and combating neurological diseases.
Heart Health
- Its antioxidant property makes certain isomers of Vitamin E protect the body against cholesterol oxidation.
- Ensures proper blood flow in your body, expands arteries and keeps the arteries healthy.
- Prevents blood clotting by acting as a blood thinning agent and stopping blood platelets from merging together.
Skin health benefits
- Acts as an anti-aging nutrient by strengthening the capillary walls and improving moisture and elasticity.
- Antioxidants found in Vitamin E contribute to collagen growth which adds to skin smoothness and elasticity.
- Controls skin inflammation, which in turn helps in maintaining youthful skin.
- Useful for fighting signs of acne, wrinkles, and eczema.
- Easily absorbable by the skin Vitamin is useful in treating sunburns and scars.
Hair Health
- Helps reduce environmental damage to the hair by promoting circulation to the scalp.
- Apply a few drops of vitamin E oil to your hair to give them life and make them look fuller and healthier.
- Vitamin E fights factors that are known to cause hair graying, ensuring the growth of dark hair once more.
Balances hormones
- Vitamin E plays a crucial role in balancing your endocrine and nervous system.
- Balanced hormonal levels help in maintaining optimum weight levels and in regulating the menstrual cycle.
- Vitamin E supplements are taken prior and after periods helps in reducing PMS symptoms like cramping and anxiety.
Optical health
- When taken in combination with lutein and zeaxanthin, vitamin E can help in eye safety by delaying the development of symptoms associated with cataract formation and age-related macular degeneration.
- When taken along with vitamin A, vitamin E taken in high doses helps improve healing and vision in people undergoing laser eye surgery.
Prevents Cognitive Decline
- In people suffering from moderately severe Alzheimer’s disease, vitamin E can help slow down memory loss and functional decline.
- When taken along with vitamin C, it can help reduce the risk of developing various types of dementia.
- Studies suggest that getting higher intakes of vitamin E from the diet—not from high-dose supplements—is associated with a reduced risk of Parkinson’s disease.
- Studies have shown that the longer people used vitamin E supplements, the lower their risk of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
Fights side effects of harsh treatments
- As a powerful antioxidant that fights off free radicals, vitamin E is occasionally used to lessen the side effects of harsh treatments such as radiation and dialysis for treating cancer.
- Unwanted side effects of harmful drugs, like hair loss or lung damage, can be reduced by taking vitamin E
Helps with physical stamina
- Vitamin E improves physical endurance by reducing levels of oxidative stress on muscles post work out.
- Helps improve muscle strength.
- Eliminates fatigue by helping with blood circulation.
Other important benefits
- Vitamin E relieves joint pain and irritation related to osteoarthritis inflammation.
- Keeps the immune system of the body strong against viruses and bacteria.
- Cells use vitamin E to interact with each other and carry out many important functions.
- Beauticians recommend soaking hands in vitamin E oil for stronger and healthy nails.
Food sources for vitamin E
There are many food groups rich in vitamin E, out of which cooking oils, seeds and nuts are exceptionally rich in this particular vitamin. You can meet your requirements of Vitamin E by consuming-
- Nuts ( such as Hazelnuts, peanuts, pine nuts, brazil nuts)
- Seeds (such as sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pecans, cashew nuts)
- Vegetable oils ( wheat germ oil, hazelnut oil, sunflower oil, almond oil)
- Cooking oils (safflower oil, cottonseed oil, rice bran oil, grapeseed oil)
- Animal-based foods (abalone, goose meat, salmon, trout, snails, lobster)
- Fruits (avocado, mango, kiwi, blackberries, olives, apricots)
- Vegetables (Turnip greens, beet greens, broccoli, asparagus, collards, spinach)
When can vitamin E prove harmful?
The problems associated with vitamin E begins when its dosage in supplement form becomes higher than the recommended levels. Being a fat-soluble vitamin, its excess consumption gets build up in the body. This poses a danger of vitamin E overdose.
- Long-term use of Vitamin E increases the possibility of hemorraghic stroke.
- Patients with diabetes and heart diseases who take more than the prescribed amount of Vitamin-E run an increased chance of a heart failure.
- When taken during early pregnancy, Vitamin E increases the risk of congenital heart defects.
- It increases the risk of prostate cancer in men who take it Vitamin E along with other multi-vitamins more than seven times a week.
- An overdose of Vitamin can cause side effects like nausea, headache, bleeding, and fatigue.
Vitamin E deficiency – Reasons and common symptoms
A naturally occurring vitamin E deficiency is very rare. It is found in people suffering either from fat malabsorption disorders or genetic abnormalities. In people with metabolic syndrome, vitamin E does not find its way to the tissues where it’s needed, resulting in a hidden deficiency. Anemia, skeletal myopathy, ataxia, peripheral neuropathy, retinopathy, impairment of the immune response and nerve damage are signs that there may be a deficiency. Other symptoms of vitamin E deficiency include greasy stools, chronic diarrhea, and an inability to secrete bile.
Special considerations for vitamin E
- Since Vitamin E is fat-soluble it is best taken with some fatty food.
- People on blood thinners or aspirin should take vitamin only when prescribed by their medical practitioner.
- Taking vitamin E with statins or niacin, which might benefit people with high cholesterol, could reduce niacin’s effect.
- When taken along with vitamin K, vitamin E might reduce its effect.
- There might be some adverse side effects of taking vitamin E with chemotherapy drugs.
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