What's Up Magazines

Not so E-z. Critical information on vitamin E By Ingrid Kohlstadt M.D., M.P.H.

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 (the official journal of the American Medical Association), say vitamin E doesn’t work and may even be unsafe. So what’s the right answer?

Vitamin E is found naturally in eight forms, four of which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration 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.

When the JAMA-published scientists were asked their rationale for studying just 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 generally contain only alpha-tocopherol, the first (hence, alpha) and most abundant form of vitamin E. It was discovered serendipitously 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 cheaply 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, which is analogous to thirty unmuted trumpets playing in the symphony.

Choose supplements with mixed tocopherols and tocotrienols, as these contain four to eight forms of vitamin E. As a team vitamin E improves cholesterol, stops cancer cell growth, and protects nerves and brain tissue from damage.

Why not eat more foods that contain vitamin E? Snack on nuts instead of chips or pastries. Grind tan rice-sized flax seeds in the coffee grinder and then sprinkle them on yogurt, oatmeal, or salad. Buy cooking and salad oils that are unrefined and free of hydrogenated (trans) fats. Particularly healthful and flavorful cooking oils include extra virgin olive oil, organic toasted sesame oil, hazelnut oil, avocado oil, and palm oil (different than the saturated palm kernel oil). When you snack on nuts, sprinkle sunflower seeds on salad, and add a dash of walnut oil you eat all eight tocopherols and tocotrienols.

I hope this has made a currently controversial topic E-asy.

Annapolis resident Ingrid Kohlstadt M.D., M.P.H. uses food and nutrients in her medical practice. Dr. Kohlstadt is on the associate faculty of Johns Hopkins, board-certified in preventive medicine, fellow to the American College of Nutrition, and editor/author of Scientific Evidence for Musculoskeletal, Bariatric, and Sports Nutrition (CRC Press 2006). Learn more on cooking to cure at www.INGRIDients.com.