What is Vitamin E Oil?

Vitamin E is a general term for a class of closely related chemical compounds. It occurs naturally in specific types of food and is also available in pure form as a dietary supplement. Vitamin E is essential for good nutrition in humans and is a common ingredient in skin-care products.

Definitions

Vitamin E refers collectively to the eight compounds known scientifically as alpha-tocopherol, beta-tocopherol, gamma-tocopherol, delta-tocopherol, alpha-tocotrienol, beta-tocotrienol, gamma-tocotrienol and delta-tocotrienol. The term vitamin E may also refer specifically to alpha-tocopherol, as this is the only form of vitamin E that's important in human nutrition.

Properties

Pure vitamin E is a yellow translucent oil that's soluble in fat. It's also an effective anti-oxidant, meaning that it retards the reaction rate of oxygen with other compounds. The anti-oxidant property of vitamin E can provide some protection for the cells and your body.

Deficiency

The Institute of Medicine says the recommended daily allowance of vitamin E in adults is 15 mg. This is a very small amount of vitamin E, so vitamin E deficiency is essentially unknown in healthy people. Vitamin E deficiency can occur in people with genetic disorders that prevent them from absorbing fat from the digestive tract.

Toxicity

Vitamin E accumulates in the fat cells because it's fat soluble and can reach toxic levels in some cases. This isn't generally an issue for someone who relies on dietary sources of vitamin E, but people who take vitamin E as a dietary supplement can get too much vitamin E. The tolerable upper intake level for vitamin E in adults is 1 g per day.

Sources

Good dietary sources of vitamin E generally include vegetable oil and leafy green vegetables. Wheat germ oil is especially high in vitamin E, and a tablespoon provides more than 100 percent of the recommended daily allowance. Sunflower oil, safflower oil and peanut oil are also high in vitamin E. Leafy green vegetables that contain high concentrations of vitamin E include spinach and broccoli.