Almost all foods contain some vitamin E, although corn oil, cottonseed oil, margarine, and peanut oil are especially good sources of this vitamin. Vitamin E supplements are quite popular and contribute considerably to vitamin E. Either natural or synthetic forms of α-tocopherol are used as supplements.
*Vitamin E’s major function appears to be a potent chain-breaking antioxidant that inhibits the production of reactive oxygen species molecules when fat undergoes oxidation and during the propagation of free radical reactions. The vitamin is a peroxyl radical scavenger and especially protects polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) within membrane phospholipids and in plasma lipoproteins.
*In 2007, reports from the Women’s Health Study (WHS) demonstrated that vitamin E supplements decrease the risk of mortality from thromboembolism and that alpha-tocopherol decreases the tendency for clotting in normal healthy women.
*Vitamin E also regulates the opening of blood vessels, important for unhindered blood flow.
*Vitamin E increases the orderliness of the membrane lipid packaging, thus allowing for a tighter packing of the membrane and, in turn, greater stability to the cell. Study in 2011 showed that vitamin E is necessary for maintaining proper skeletal muscle homeostasis and that the supplementation of cultured myocytes with alpha-tocopherol promotes plasma membrane repair.
*Vitamin E inhibits damaging blood clotting, potentially blocking blood flow. Vitamin E helps to prevent arteries from clogging by blocking the conversion of cholesterol into the waxy fat deposits called ‘plaque’ that stick to blood vessel walls. Vitamin E also thins the blood, allowing it to flow more easily through arteries even when plaque is present.
*Vitamin E involves in prevention of diseases including neurological disorders, cardiovascular diseases, age-related eye and skin damage, and infertility,
Vitamin E may help protect against clouding of the lens of the eye (cataracts) and a progressive deterioration in the retina, the back part of the eye (age related macular degeneration, AMD). Both of these eye disorders tend to occur as people age, leading to impaired vision.
*Vitamin E function as a physiological regulator of enzyme activity, cellular signaling, cell proliferation, and gene expression, which is not directly related to antioxidant action,
What are the main functions of vitamin E?
