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ARE VITAMIN E SUPPLEMENTS BENEFICIAL?
Author(s) -
Briggs Michael,
Briggs Maxine
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1974.tb50813.x
Subject(s) - vitamin e , tocopherol , vitamin , physiology , human nutrition , alpha tocopherol , disease , endocrinology , medicine , chemistry , biology , food science , antioxidant , biochemistry
A brief review is given of tocopherol biochemistry. Possible modes of action at cell and molecular levels are outlined. Food concentrations are given, together with estimates of human dietary requirements. Factors influencing absorption and excretion are described. Human diseases in which tocopherol administration has been claimed to be beneficial are listed. It is concluded that human requirements for tocopherols are small, and that excess is not absorbed, but appears in faeces. There is little evidence of objective responses to vitamin E in human disease, though some patients with severe anaemias show an improvement. There are few grounds to support an anti‐oxidative role for vitamin E to protect essential fatty acids in normal tissues, though this may occur in animals grossly deficient in tocopherols. It is concluded that regular vitamin E supplementation has not been shown to have beneficial effects for normal people, and that there are no substantial theoretical grounds to support this practice. While vitamin E excess is probably harmless, some effect on vitamin A storage is possible. Other undesirable side effects are more difficult to evaluate.