Vitamin E - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_E

Vitamin E
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vitamin E refers to a group of compounds that include both tocopherols and tocotrienols.[1] Of the many
different forms of vitamin E, -tocopherol is the most common in the North American diet.[2] -Tocopherol can
be found in corn oil, soybean oil, margarine, and dressings.[3][4] -tocopherol, the most biologically active form
of vitamin E, is the second-most common form of vitamin E in the diet. This variant can be found most
abundantly in wheat germ oil, sunflower, and safflower oils.[4][5] As a fat-soluble antioxidant, it stops the
production of reactive oxygen species formed when fat undergoes oxidation.[6][7][8] Regular consumption of
more than 1,000 mg (1,500 IU) of tocopherols per day[9] may be expected to cause hypervitaminosis E, with an
associated risk of vitamin K deficiency and consequently of bleeding problems.

Forms
The nutritional content of vitamin E is defined by -tocopherol activity. The molecules that contribute
-tocopherol activity are four tocopherols and four tocotrienols, identified by the prefixes alpha- (-), beta- (-),
gamma- (-), and delta- (-).[10] Natural tocopherols occur in the RRR-configuration only. The synthetic form
contains eight different stereoisomers and is called 'all-rac'--tocopherol.[11] Water soluble forms such as
d-alpha-tocopheryl succinate are used as food additive.

-Tocopherol
-Tocopherol is an important lipid-soluble antioxidant. It performs its functions as antioxidant in the
glutathione peroxidase pathway,[12] and it protects cell membranes from oxidation by reacting with lipid
radicals produced in the lipid peroxidation chain reaction.[7][13] This would remove the free radical intermediates
and prevent the oxidation reaction from continuing. The oxidized -tocopheroxyl radicals produced in this
process may be recycled back to the active reduced form through reduction by other antioxidants, such as
ascorbate, retinol or ubiquinol.[14] However, the importance of the antioxidant properties of this molecule at the
concentrations present in the body are not clear and the reason vitamin E is required in the diet is possibly
unrelated to its ability to act as an antioxidant.[15] Other forms of vitamin E have their own unique properties;
for example, -tocopherol is a nucleophile that can react with electrophilic mutagens.[16]

Tocotrienols
Compared with tocopherols, tocotrienols are sparsely studied.[17][18][19] Less than 1% of PubMed papers on
vitamin E relate to tocotrienols.[20] The current research direction is starting to give more prominence to the
tocotrienols, the lesser known but more potent antioxidants in the vitamin E family. Some studies have
suggested that tocotrienols have specialized roles in protecting neurons from damage[20] and cholesterol
reduction[21] by inhibiting the activity of HMG-CoA reductase; -tocotrienol blocks processing of sterol
regulatory element-binding proteins (SREBPs).
Oral consumption of tocotrienols is also thought to protect against stroke-associated brain damage in vivo.[22]
Until further research has been carried out on the other forms of vitamin E, conclusions relating to the other
forms of vitamin E, based on trials studying only the efficacy of -tocopherol, may be premature.[23]

Functions

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