What role does vitamin E play in our health?

Protection Against Free Radical Damage

Vitamin E is a potent antioxidant. Because it is fat soluble, we see it offer protection against damage to the fats that line the outside of every cell of our body.

When the fats in our membranes become damaged, important cell functions become compromised. Based on this important mechanism, researchers have studied whether diets low in vitamin E are associated with many diseases associated with aging.

We also see vitamin E protect fats from free radical damage before we eat them. We'll talk about the role of vitamin E in protecting foods during storage below in the Impact of Cooking, Storage, and Processing section.

Protection Against Heart Disease

Vitamin E helps protect LDL cholesterol (sometimes referred to as "bad" cholesterol) from free radical damage. Free radical damage typically involves an unwanted interaction with a reactive oxygen-containing molecule. When vitamin E is deficient—and under some other circumstances as well—it is possible for LDL cholesterol to become insufficiently protected and damaged by oxygen. When damaged in this way, the LDL cholesterol is often referred to as "oxidized LDL." If the process continues, it is possible for oxidized LDL to accumulate in blood vessel walls and create the early stages of hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis).

Diets rich in vitamin E from vegetables, fish, and plant oils—like the Mediterranean diet for example—have been linked to cardiovascular prevention in large health surveys. Understand, though, that the potential benefits of this diet are not limited to or fully explained by vitamin E, and that dietary supplements of vitamin E (in comparison to vitamin E in food) have not demonstrated the same sort of preventive benefit that researchers hoped to see.

from The World's Healthiest Foods http://ift.tt/25Fsdgv
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