The Health Benefits Of Vitamin E

The benefits of vitamin E antioxidant role may actually go much further. There's significant evidence vitamin E can protect against cardiovascular disease and may slow the deterioration related to aging. Critics scoffed at such claims previously, but an understanding of the importance of vitamin E's antioxidant role might be beginning to pay off. However, just like betacarotene, the effect of vitamin E in preventing cardiovascular disease may be both timing-sensitive and dose sensitive.

The Health Benefits Of Vitamin E originate from its antioxidant properties. Antioxidants remove toxins the unstable compounds that damage the cell structure. Immunity levels improve when vitamin E is consumed. Another essential benefit of vitamin E is that it reduces cholesterol and also the risk of developing cancer.

Antioxidant

Vitamin E possesses antioxidant activity, however the clinical effects of antioxidant protection by vitamin E aren't clear in humans. The American Heart Association has recommended obtaining antioxidants for example vitamin E by eating a well-balanced diet full of fruits, vegetables, and whole grain products, rather than from supplements, until further scientific evidence can be obtained.

Atherosclerosis

Vitamin E has been proposed to possess a role in preventing or reversing atherosclerosis (clogging and hardening of arteries) by inhibiting oxidation of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Research has suggested that a high dietary intake of vitamin E and blood concentrations of alpha-tocopherol are related to lower rates of heart disease. This area remains controversial, and additional research is required.

Cancer treatment

There's a lack of reliable scientific evidence that vitamin E works well as a treatment for any specific type of cancer. Caution is merited in people undergoing treatment with chemotherapy or radiation, since it has been proposed that the use of high-dose antioxidants might actually reduce the anticancer effects of these therapies. This remains a place of controversy, and studies have produced variable results. High doses of vitamin E could also cause harm in cancer patients.

Chemotherapy-induced neuropathy

Like other antioxidants, vitamin E continues to be suggested as a therapy to avoid complications due to chemotherapy, for example neuropathy (nerve damage). There is some evidence of benefit, for instance, when it is used with cisplatin. However, caution is merited, since it is not known if the use of high-dose antioxidants during chemotherapy might actually reduce the anticancer effects of some chemotherapy agents or radiotherapy.

Dementia / Alzheimer's disease

Vitamin E has been proposed and evaluated for that prevention or slowing of dementia (such as the Alzheimer's type), based on antioxidant properties and findings of low vitamin E levels in certain individuals with Alzheimer's disease. There is some evidence that all-rac-alpha-tocopherol (synthetic vitamin E) is comparable in efficacy to selegiline (Eldepryl®) and better than placebo for slowing cognitive function loss of patients with moderately severe Alzheimer's.