The fat-soluble nutrient called vitamin E is actually eight related chemical substances. The human body contains higher levels of alpha-tocopherol, the most common variant, than any other form of vitamin E. Thus, alpha-tocopherol plays the most significant role in human nutrition, including dietary requirements for vitamin E, according to the Office of Dietary Supplements. To protect your health, consult a health-care professional before using supplements with any type of vitamin E.
Features
The family of compounds collectively called vitamin E consists of alpha-tocopherol, beta-tocopherol, gamma-tocopherol, delta-tocopherol, alpha-tocotrienol, beta-tocotrienol, gamma-tocotrienol and delta-tocotrienol. Vitamin E occurs in food naturally and as an additive, and some dietary supplements contain natural or man-made forms of the nutrient. Your body stores surplus amounts of vitamin E and other fat-soluble substances in your fat tissue and liver until they're needed. Infants a year old and younger should consume about 4 to 5 mg a day of vitamin E in alpha-tocopherol form. Children ages 1 to 13 need approximately 6 to 11 mg daily, and individuals ages 14 and older require roughly 15 mg per day.
Antioxidant Properties
All eight variants of vitamin E possess antioxidant traits. That enables them to destroy unhealthy molecules known as free radicals, which are produced as your body obtains energy from food and are also found in environmental sources such as cigarette smoke and sunlight. Free radicals damage your cells and DNA. They eventually contribute to aging and can possibly increase your chances of developing medical problems such as cancer and heart disease. The antioxidant features of vitamin E not only protect your cells from the harmful effects of free radicals, but they also decrease the impact of other destructive substances, such as pollutants and certain toxic compounds.
Additional Functions
Besides limiting damage from free radicals, vitamin E influences your immune and metabolic systems. The nutrient improves the functioning of certain enzymes involved in metabolism and the widening of blood vessels, for example, and it helps prevent the accumulation of blood cells along the inner lining of blood vessels. Other purposes of vitamin E include helping your body process vitamin K effectively and produce red blood cells.
Considerations
Although vitamin E found naturally in food does no harm if you consume large amounts, excessive intake of vitamin E supplements can cause complications. Potential problems include bleeding and hemorrhagic stroke, according to the Office of Dietary Supplements. Vitamin E interacts with and decreases the effectiveness of various types of medication, too, ranging from anti-coagulants and anti-platelet drugs to chemotherapy treatments and some tricyclic antidepressants. Consequently, people who have bleeding conditions or who take relevant medications must exercise extra caution when they use dietary supplements containing vitamin E.
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