During the past year, the media have been filled with so-called nutrition experts who insist that vitamin supplements are a waste of money. But studies of what’s really going on in the body show that listening to these naysayers is the real waste of time.
Take vitamin E, for instance. Research into what we eat shows that 90 percent of Americans don’t consume enough vitamin E from our food.
And scientists at Oregon State University’s Linus Pauling Institute have shown that even if you have a blood test that shows your body is circulating plenty of vitamin E, that doesn’t mean it’s getting to the organs where it’s needed.
Here’s the problem – so many of us have so much bad cholesterol (the LDL kind that threatens heart health) and triglycerides (fats made from all the sweets we eat) floating around in our blood that our vitamin E can’t escape our circulation and get to where it can help protect important organs.
The most important places vitamin E should be reaching include your brain, eyes, skin, artery walls and liver. Vitamin E is potent, fat-soluble antioxidant that defends cell membranes from damage by free radicals. The essential micronutrient also plays a crucial role in protecting nerves.
And while some in the nutrition arena say that the recommended daily level of vitamin E, now set at 15 milligrams, is too high, the Oregon researchers argue that it is set just about right. But few of us take in the recommended amount.
“This research raises particular concern about people who are obese or have metabolic syndrome,” says researcher Margaret Traber. “People with elevated lipids in their blood plasma are facing increased inflammation as a result. Almost every tissue in their body is under oxidative attack, and needs more vitamin E. But the vitamin E needed to protect these tissues is stuck on the freeway, in the circulatory system. It’s going round and round instead of getting to the tissues where it’s needed.”
This is one of the real reasons to lower LDL cholesterol. You probably know by now that cholesterol doesn’t cause heart disease. But having too much LDL can keep you from absorbing enough of the antioxidants that keep you healthy.
Losing excess fat and exercising give you the biggest bang for your buck in improving your cholesterol profile. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables while skipping junk food helps, too. Otherwise, your vitamin E may never leave the bloodstream, and you’ll be missing out on one of your body’s essential antioxidants.
Once your body is ready to deliver vitamin E, try to get some from the best sources of natural vitamin E from food – sunflower seeds, almonds, avocadoes, spinach and other dark leafy greens.
If you need to take vitamin E supplements make sure you take a natural, full spectrum vitamin E. Vitamin E is really a group of 8 related compounds – four tocopherols and four tocotrienols. Avoid synthetic vitamin E that only has a single tocopherol. It’s marked dl-alpha tocopherol. Look for “mixed tocopherols and tocotrienols” on the label.
