How vitamin E supplementation can contribute to vitamin E deficiency
'The' problem with vitamin E supplementation in large doses is that there are a. multiple forms of vitamin E, b. supplements usually only contain a specific form of vitamin E and c. that particular form displaces other vitamin E variants. As a result, over-enthusiastic vitamin E supplementation can thus deprive the body of vitamin E. By accident, today we stumbled upon the study that showed this paradoxical effect.
Study
In 1985 the research group of the American biochemist Edward Dratz published a small human study in which 8 healthy subjects aged 30-60 took a daily supplement of vitamin E for 8 weeks.
This supplement contained 1200 units of alpha-tocopherol. The researchers used a synthetic and racemic form of alpha-tocopherol.
You have tocopherols in different shapes and sizes. You have alpha, beta, gamma and delta tocopherol. Good sources of alpha-tocopherol are sunflower seeds and oil, but they contain hardly any gamma-tocopherol. Gamma-tocopherol is found in sesame seeds, nuts and linseed.
Other vitamin E analogues are alpha-, beta-, gamma- and delta-tocotrienol, but we will leave these aside for now.
Results
The researchers determined the concentration of alpha and gamma tocopherol in the blood of their test subjects. During the experiment, the concentration of alpha-tocopherol went up, but the concentration of gamma-tocopherol went down.
Below you can see analyzes of the blood of a random participant. Supplementation with alpha-tocopherol reduced the concentration of gamma-tocopherol, but had no effect on the concentration of the beta and delta analogues.
Implications
Tocopherols are antioxidants. Each form of vitamin tackles antioxidants in a slightly different way. Supplementing with high doses of alpha-tocopherol may ensure that free radicals are better controlled via the alpha-tocopherol approach, but the price you have to pay is that gamma-tocopherol can do its job less well.
This explains why in many studies in which subjects were given high doses of vitamin E - read: synthetic alpha-tocopherol - for a long time, there are no positive effects on health.
Source:
J Nutr. 1985 Jun;115(6):807-13.
'The' problem with vitamin E supplementation in large doses is that there are a. multiple forms of vitamin E, b. supplements usually only contain a specific form of vitamin E and c. that particular form displaces other vitamin E variants. As a result, over-enthusiastic vitamin E supplementation can thus deprive the body of vitamin E. By accident, today we stumbled upon the study that showed this paradoxical effect.
Study
In 1985 the research group of the American biochemist Edward Dratz published a small human study in which 8 healthy subjects aged 30-60 took a daily supplement of vitamin E for 8 weeks.
This supplement contained 1200 units of alpha-tocopherol. The researchers used a synthetic and racemic form of alpha-tocopherol.
You have tocopherols in different shapes and sizes. You have alpha, beta, gamma and delta tocopherol. Good sources of alpha-tocopherol are sunflower seeds and oil, but they contain hardly any gamma-tocopherol. Gamma-tocopherol is found in sesame seeds, nuts and linseed.
Other vitamin E analogues are alpha-, beta-, gamma- and delta-tocotrienol, but we will leave these aside for now.
Results
The researchers determined the concentration of alpha and gamma tocopherol in the blood of their test subjects. During the experiment, the concentration of alpha-tocopherol went up, but the concentration of gamma-tocopherol went down.
Below you can see analyzes of the blood of a random participant. Supplementation with alpha-tocopherol reduced the concentration of gamma-tocopherol, but had no effect on the concentration of the beta and delta analogues.
Implications
Tocopherols are antioxidants. Each form of vitamin tackles antioxidants in a slightly different way. Supplementing with high doses of alpha-tocopherol may ensure that free radicals are better controlled via the alpha-tocopherol approach, but the price you have to pay is that gamma-tocopherol can do its job less well.
This explains why in many studies in which subjects were given high doses of vitamin E - read: synthetic alpha-tocopherol - for a long time, there are no positive effects on health.
Source:
J Nutr. 1985 Jun;115(6):807-13.
