Sources of Vitamin E
Average dietary intake of vitamin E in the United States is not enough to meet the RDAs. The average daily intake is about 14 IU (9 mg) for men and 9 IU (6 mg) for women. This is well below the RDA of 22.5 IU (15 mg) for adults. It is not easy to get sufficient vitamin E in a typical American diet without excessive fat intake.
Summary for Vitamin E
Main functions: antioxidant protection of cell membranes and LDL.
RDA as RRR-alpha-tocopherol: adolescents and adults, 22.5 IU (15 mg); children, 6–16 IU (4–11 mg).
Vitamin E is non-toxic at less than 66 times the RDA.
Tolerable upper intake level of 1000 IU daily prevents excess bleeding.
Deficiency: one-third of adults get too little to prevent cardiovascular disease.
Healthy food sources: almonds, sunflower seeds, and coldpressed oils.
Degradation: can be oxidized during food preparation or storage.
Principal forms in the body: alpha-tocopherol and gammatocopherol.
Vitamin E is found in fatty foods such as vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds; please refer to Graph 5-1. Smaller amounts of vitamin E are also found in whole grains,
Graph 5-1 Vitamin E in some common foods.
avocados, and green leafy vegetables. Almonds, safflower oil, and hazelnuts are rich in alpha-tocopherol. Soybean oil, corn oil, avocados, and canola oil are rich in gamma-tocopherol. These foods naturally have a mixture of the various forms of tocopherols and tocotrienols, but always contain only the natural isomer of each.
Foods Rich in Vitamin E (mg per 100 grams)
Sunflower oil 59 Soybean oil 18
Sunflower seeds 50 Hazelnuts 15
Safflower oil 43 Olive oil 12
Almonds 26 Spinach, raw 2
Corn oil 21 Avocados 1
Canola oil 21 Whole wheat 1
Vitamin E is easily destroyed by heat and oxidation, as illustrated in Figure 5-6. Processed foods are a poor choice for obtaining vitamin E. For example, enriched white flour has only two percent of the vitamin E found in whole wheat flour. Deep frying not only destroys vitamin E, but causes extra free radicals to be formed in the heated oil.
The RDA for vitamin E for adults and adolescents is 22.5 IU (15 mg). The RDA for children ranges from 6 IU (4 mg) to 16 IU (10 mg). RDAs are expressed in amounts of the natural RRR-alpha-tocopherol form, which is twice as potent as the
Figure 5-6 Vitamin E is easily destroyed during food processing.
Table 5-1 RDAs for vitamin E for all ages.
synthetic forms. Twice as many milligrams of the synthetic forms are needed to provide the same activity as the natural form. The following RDAs are based on the prevention of deficiency symptoms such as the breakdown of red blood cells. The RDAs are not based on the prevention of chronic diseases or on the promotion of optimum health. Please refer to Table 5-1 for RDAs for all ages.
Average dietary intake of vitamin E in the United States is not enough to meet the RDAs. The average daily intake is about 14 IU (9 mg) for men and 9 IU (6 mg) for women. This is well below the RDA of 22.5 IU (15 mg) for adults. It is not easy to get sufficient vitamin E in a typical American diet without excessive fat intake.
Summary for Vitamin E
Main functions: antioxidant protection of cell membranes and LDL.
RDA as RRR-alpha-tocopherol: adolescents and adults, 22.5 IU (15 mg); children, 6–16 IU (4–11 mg).
Vitamin E is non-toxic at less than 66 times the RDA.
Tolerable upper intake level of 1000 IU daily prevents excess bleeding.
Deficiency: one-third of adults get too little to prevent cardiovascular disease.
Healthy food sources: almonds, sunflower seeds, and coldpressed oils.
Degradation: can be oxidized during food preparation or storage.
Principal forms in the body: alpha-tocopherol and gammatocopherol.
Vitamin E is found in fatty foods such as vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds; please refer to Graph 5-1. Smaller amounts of vitamin E are also found in whole grains,
avocados, and green leafy vegetables. Almonds, safflower oil, and hazelnuts are rich in alpha-tocopherol. Soybean oil, corn oil, avocados, and canola oil are rich in gamma-tocopherol. These foods naturally have a mixture of the various forms of tocopherols and tocotrienols, but always contain only the natural isomer of each.
Foods Rich in Vitamin E (mg per 100 grams)
Sunflower oil 59 Soybean oil 18
Sunflower seeds 50 Hazelnuts 15
Safflower oil 43 Olive oil 12
Almonds 26 Spinach, raw 2
Corn oil 21 Avocados 1
Canola oil 21 Whole wheat 1
Vitamin E is easily destroyed by heat and oxidation, as illustrated in Figure 5-6. Processed foods are a poor choice for obtaining vitamin E. For example, enriched white flour has only two percent of the vitamin E found in whole wheat flour. Deep frying not only destroys vitamin E, but causes extra free radicals to be formed in the heated oil.
The RDA for vitamin E for adults and adolescents is 22.5 IU (15 mg). The RDA for children ranges from 6 IU (4 mg) to 16 IU (10 mg). RDAs are expressed in amounts of the natural RRR-alpha-tocopherol form, which is twice as potent as the
Figure 5-6 Vitamin E is easily destroyed during food processing.
Table 5-1 RDAs for vitamin E for all ages.
synthetic forms. Twice as many milligrams of the synthetic forms are needed to provide the same activity as the natural form. The following RDAs are based on the prevention of deficiency symptoms such as the breakdown of red blood cells. The RDAs are not based on the prevention of chronic diseases or on the promotion of optimum health. Please refer to Table 5-1 for RDAs for all ages.
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