Vitamin E intake high - is it a problem?

Wonderfulworld · Post by **Wonderfulworld** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 1:19 am

I have realised that I am exceeding the RDA by a few multiples per day.
I take six EPO/Fish oil capsules and they contain 280% RDA of my Vitamin E.
I was also taking an excellent multivit/mineral and only recently realised that it also has 300% RDA Vitamin E.
Does anyone know if this level is problematic? Anything I should look out for?

Post by **jimmylegs** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 7:08 am

hi ww to my knowledge there is no toxicity associated with dietary intakes of vitamin e. the potential for problems may start when people take excessive supplementary forms, in particular synthetic varieties.

from what i have managed to gather, dietary is best, natural ratio E8 complex (with 4 tocopherols and 4 tocotrienols) is next best, after that 'natural' d-alpha tocopherol - also called RRR-alpha tocopherol - (but, supplementing only alpha tocopherol can drive down your levels of other components of the E complex), and after that, dl-alpha tocopherol - also known as 'all rac alpha tocopherol - (a synthetic form. daily intakes 400IU/d and higher in the long term have been associated with increased disease risk in the literature eg SELECT).

SELECT paper:
http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/301/1/39.abstract
vitamin E group: "vitamin E (400 IU/d of all rac-α-tocopheryl acetate) and matched selenium placebo"
results: "There were statistically nonsignificant increased risks of prostate cancer in the vitamin E group (P = .06)"

however:
http://www.ajcn.org/content/48/3/612.short
"In human studies with double-blind protocols and in large population studies, oral vitamin E supplementation resulted in few side effects even at doses as high as 3200 mg/d (3200 IU/d)."

re dietary:

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamine/
table 2:
1 tbsp wheat germ oil provides 100%

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tnam ... #foodchart
a quarter cup of raw sunflower seeds provide 90% of daily needs as per recommended daily amounts. maybe sunflower seed butter would be a good purchase?
1/4c dry roasted almonds, 45%.
1 c of boiled spinach or chard provide close to 20%.

mind you, the RDA is only 22.4 IU/d and i take 400 IU per day E8 complex, in addition to dietary intakes, with no negative long term effects over the last 5 years. what's that.. close to 1800% RDA?

so all that said... what's your total daily intake of vit E in IU, in what form?

HTH

Wonderfulworld · Post by **Wonderfulworld** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 12:24 pm

JL, you have outdone yourself, whew!!

thank you so much for the in-depth response.

Ok....just got my jars of vits there,.....
Multivitamin doesn't specify what Vit E 30IU

but I can email the company that do the multivit and find out - Irish company and I've dealt with them directly before.

Naudicelle Plus EPO/Fish d alpha tocopherol acetate Vit E 60mg per 6 caps and it says that that is 280% RDA.

Gosh yes you have a very high intake and it would seem with no ill effects so I think my question is answered!

I fished out my old printouts from 2006 when I was on BBD and found that the Upper Safe Limits is 1,000mg (733IU I think, if my calculations are correct?) of alpha tocopherol.

Should have remembered my printout before posting my message, embarrassed!

Post by **jimmylegs** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 6:59 pm

no worries ww!

pls note that my 400IU/d intake is specifically E8 complex (the natural ratio one with 4 tocopherols and 4 tocotrienols).

your vit E form d-alpha tocopherol is safer than dl-alpha tocopherol so that's good anyway.

also note though, that boosting alpha tocopherol depresses gamma tocopherol (gamm t apparently helps fight cancer via tumour suppression unlike alpha t, which acts mainly as an antioxidant)