Vitamin Information Center

For vitamin E, four tocopherol members are better than one.

VITAMIN E found in nature has always been superior to the vitamin E found in the common supplement pills we consume. Why? Because most vitamin E pills contain only alpha tocopherol whereas now we know that natural vitamin E gives us not one (alpha-) but four (alpha-, beta-, gamma- and delta-) tocopherol members.

It is only recently that scientists have found the long-ignored members – gamma, beta and delta tocopherols – of the vitamin E family to have important functions, some of which are different from that of alpha tocopherol. While alpha tocopherol alone does provide certain benefits, it has been found that the best benefits of vitamin E supplementation come when it contains all four tocopherol members of the vitamin E family.

A study published in the February 2005 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that the intake of a mixture of vitamin E from food sources rather than from supplements is associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

“High intake of vitamin E from food (alpha-, beta-, gamma-, delta tocopherol), but not supplements (which usually contain only alpha tocopherol), is inversely associated with Alzheimer’s disease,” wrote Martha Clare Morris, ScD, PhD, from Rush Institute of healthy Aging in Atlanta, Georgia, and colleagues. “Because vitamin E is composed of four different tocopherol members (alpha-,beta-, gamma- and delta-) … and because vitamin E supplements usually consists of alpha tocopherol only, one possible explanation for the seeming inconsistency is that the effect (benefit) is not due to alpha tocopherol alone but to a combination of tocopherol members.”

Free radicals can stimulate and intensify inflammation by turning on genes that promote inflammation. Many serious degenerative conditions, including atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), various types of cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, appear to be promoted by chronic inflammation.

A recent report published on Dec 21, 2004 by the Proceedings of the National Acedemy of Sciences (led by a team of scientists including Qing Jiang, formerly of Children’s Hospital and Research Centre in Oakland, California). The research had nothing against alpha-tocopherol. “Alpha tocopherol has justifiably earned a good reputation as an antioxidant,” said Jiang in a news release. Instead, she wanted to see if other members of vitamin E were promising.

Jiang, currently assistant professor of foods and nutrition at Purdue University in Indiana, US, has studied gamma tocopherol before. In 2000, she and her colleagues found that it inhibits inflammation, which has been linked to cancer. [Journal – Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (Oct 2000) ]

This time, Jiang’s team studied gamma tocopherol against human prostate and lung cancer cells. They found that gamma tocopherol inhibited the spread of prostate and lung cancer cells without hurting the healthy cells. That indicates that gamma tocopherol might be able to combat cancer without damaging unaffected cells. The results were even better when gamma tocopherol got a little help from its other team members.

Mixing other members of vitamin E – including gamma tocopherol – was even better at blocking cancer’s spread. “Combinations of different members of vitamin E may be superior to each alone,” writes the researchers.

The summary of the recent findings is that taking alpha tocopherol alone may not provide the full benefits of vitamin E.

This article is courtesy of Pahang Pharmacy. For more information, e-mail starhealth@thestar.com.my. The information provided is for educational purposes only and should not be considered as medical advice. The Star does not give any warranty on accuracy, completeness, functionality, usefulness or other assurances as to the content appearing in this column. The Star disclaims all responsibility for any losses, damage to property or personal injury suffered directly or indirectly from reliance on such information.

Despite great advances in medicine, cancer is still a very common disease. At current rates, more than a third of us will suffer from cancer during our lifetime and about one in four of us will die from it. According to the American Cancer Society, 7.6 million people worldwide died from cancer in 2007.

Research statistics report that 30 to 40% of cancers are directly linked to nutrition, which shows the importance of a healthy diet in cancer prevention. Meanwhile, scientists continue to investigate foods known to be anti-carcinogenic in order to develop strategies for both cancer prevention (chemoprevention) and treatment (chemotherapy). As Hippocrates said over 2000 years ago, “Let food be thy medicine.”

The problem with current chemotherapeutic treatments is that most are not completely selective for carcinogenic cells—they harm normal cells too—and decrease the quality of life for cancer patients. Scientists are hoping that by developing chemopreventive or chemotherapeutic agents based on natural micronutrients, they will be able to develop drugs that target cancer cells with less or no harm to normal cells.

Vitamin E is an important antioxidant micronutrient. Research shows that vitamin E not only improves skin health, boosts the immune system, protects against heart disease, aging and Alzheimer’s, but also has a role in protection against some types of cancer. Unlike some vitamins, which consist of a single compound, vitamin E consists of eight different compounds, four tocopherols and four tocotrienols. Our food contains all eight compounds. Tocopherols are most commonly found in nuts and vegetable oils, whereas tocotrienols are primarily derived from palm oil, oat, rye, wheat germ, barley and rice bran.

Even though the vitamin E family consists of 8 members, most research has traditionally focused on alpha-tocopherol. Alpha-tocopherol is the most abundant form of vitamin E in the plasma and tissue of humans as well as in vitamin supplements, while the seven other types of vitamin E were greatly ignored for many years. Recent research over the last few years has led to the conclusion that the eight vitamin E compounds have different anti-carcinogenic potencies which need to be considered.

The cancer preventive properties of vitamin E were first suspected when studies showed that people in the Mediterranean area who consume diets rich in vitamin E have a lower risk of colon cancer than people in Northern Europe and the U.S. (Eur J Clin Nutr. 1989; 43:49-55, Cancer Causes Control. 1995; 6:525-31.) More recently, the Melbourne Colorectal Cancer Study showed that dietary vitamins E and C were protective for both colon and rectal cancer, and that for both vitamins there was a dose-response effect of increasing protection. (Nutr Cancer. 2006; 56:11-21.)

Another clinical study supported a preventive effect of vitamin E in the development of prostate cancer. This study included over 29,000 elderly male smokers and showed that those taking vitamin E for six years had 32% fewer diagnoses of prostate cancer and 41% fewer prostate cancer deaths than men who did not take vitamin E. (J Natl Cancer Inst. 1998; 90:440-446.) The ongoing NIH sponsored Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) is investigating selenium and vitamin E for prostate cancer prevention based on the encouraging results of earlier studies.

In the past few years most of the research has focused on structural variations of the natural forms of vitamin E with the aim of developing the anti-carcinogenic potency of these agents. The scientific community is hoping to take some of the synthetic derivatives to clinical trials, so it will be interesting to see if any of these compounds will be eventually developed into chemopreventive or chemotherapeutic agents.

But you should be aware that all vitamin E supplements are NOT created equal. Many contain synthetic vitamin E, and many do not contain all of the various types of natural vitamin E that the body requires. Make certain that your supplement contains both natural tocopherols and tocotrienols in their natural forms if you want to get the most out of what vitamin E has to offer. Only products that contain the complete vitamin E family—tocopherols plus tocotrienols—provide the full spectrum of benefits of vitamim E.

The Anti-Aging Bottom Line: A careful examination of the research performed so far on vitamin E and cancer leads me to conclude that vitamin E possesses strong anti-carcinogenic properties. While food is by far the preferred source of vitamin E, it is practically impossible to get protective amounts of vitamin E from food alone. Therefore, I feel that taking supplemental vitamin E is absolutely essential to achieving vibrant health and longevity.

Ninety percent of the vitamin D in your body is a result of your skin’s exposure to ultraviolet light. This makes vitamin D one of the only vitamins you don’t really have to pay for. The other 10 percent can come from a supplement or certain foods, but really a 15-minute walk is more beneficial than either of these things.

Although this is the exact opposite of what skin cancer warnings tell us, limiting that exposure to 10 to 15 minutes will keep you safe and full of vitamin D. It is a soluble fat, which means it is stored and dissolved in body fat rather than water soluble, which is not stored. Vitamin D stays in your body for months and that means taking the 15-minute walk in the sunshine will provide you with the beneficial affects of vitamin D for months to come.
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