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Vitamin E intake high - is it a problem?

Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 1:19 am
by Wonderfulworld
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?

Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 7:08 am
by jimmylegs
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 :)

Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 12:24 pm
by Wonderfulworld
8O JL, you have outdone yourself, whew!! :D 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. :oops: :oops: :oops: Should have remembered my printout before posting my message, embarrassed!

Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 6:59 pm
by jimmylegs
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)