How To Get The Vitamin E That Isn't In The ThinkPharm Formula

Vitamin E is a tricky one.

When you look at the recommended daily allowance (RDA) it can vary quite a bit. In the US it is said to be 15mg (1), whereas in the UK it’s 3 or 4 mg depending on whether you’re a man or a woman (2).

So which one is correct? The truth is… neither.

In reality, your vitamin E requirement will vary depending on lifestyle factors.

We believe a pretty significant factor is the amount and types of fats you eat.

As is mentioned in the scientific literature: “a reduction in total fat intake with a concomitant increase in polyunsaturated fat consumption, including EPA and DHA (Omega 3s), will result in an increased amount of vitamin E required” (3).

Translated into plain English. The amount of polyunsaturated fats (like omega-3s and omega-6s) in the diet affects your vitamin E requirement. This will be even more relevant if your fat intake is lower. In other words, it's all about relative amounts of polyunsaturated fat.

Why is this?

Let’s talk fats for a second.

There’s polyunsaturated, monounsaturated and saturated. Fats are actually used to make our cell membranes. Cell membranes are the outer packaging of the cells which separate the inside of the cell from the outside. Like many parts of our tissues, our cell membranes can be damaged by oxidative stress from free radicals. This can cause the damage associated with ageing. From a pure chemistry perspective, saturated fats and monounsaturated fats can’t be oxidised in quite the same way as polyunsaturated fats (4).

This means we need more antioxidants (like vitamin E) to protect our cell membranes from damage when we have more polyunsaturated fat in the diet.

What can we take away from this?

Don’t take huge amounts of fish oil and stick to whole food where possible.

Don’t use oils that are very high in omega 6 polyunsaturated fats.

Consume more monounsaturated fats (EG olive oil, olives, avocados, animal fats) and saturated fats (coconut oil, dairy, eggs, animal fats).

It is generally best to consume your fats from whole foods rather than oils. This is because they will generally come with more nutrients and antioxidants.

If you have to use oils, the best oils to use are olive oil, coconut oil, macadamia nut oil, avocado oil. The rest tend to be quite high in omega 6 polyunsaturated fats (A.K.A. PUFAs).

Generally, it is best to consume fats in an uncooked state. This is because the heat dramatically accelerates the oxidation. This causes the creation of rancid fats which seem to be harmful for health (5). Higher duration of cooking and temperature will increase this effect. Higher levels of polyunsaturated fats and lower antioxidant levels will also increase the effect. This is why fried foods from restaurants can be particularly bad for health, whereas a light sauté may not be so bad. They often use the cheaper oils that are highest in omega 6 polyunsaturated fats. The problem is magnified by the fact the oil is often used for multiple frying sessions, which ensures the oil becomes rancid.

Next time you see a product with rapeseed oil (also known as canola oil) in it, be aware that this oil is very high in polyunsaturated fats and increases your vitamin E requirements (6).

Minding the fats we eat is a long term thing. It has been shown that it can take over 4 years (50 months) for tissue levels of omega 6 fats to stop declining after switching from corn oil to beef fat (7). As Chris Masterjohn PhD explains, this may explain why higher polyunsaturated fat intake was associated with increased risk of cancer in one controlled study (8).

Consuming enough of the right types of fat will make getting enough vitamin E easier.

In fact, meeting your vitamin E needs becomes quite easy if you go by the UK requirement. As little as 20-30grams of raw olive oil can do the trick (9).

If you want to learn more about the vitamin and mineral content of foods, you can see the original data at https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/ or https://nutritiondata.self.com/ (which takes its data from the FDC website and make it more easily accessible).

There's another dietary factor which is likely to play an important role in one's vitamin E status: carotenoids.

Carotenoids (named after carrots) are the yellow, orange and reg pigments contained in certain foods. These can act as antioxidants in the body. They are typically fat soluble so their absorption is increased if consumed alongside a meal containing fat.

Some studies have shown that carotenoids are important for regenerating/recycling vitamin E (10). This implies our vitamin E requirements may be substantially reduced by getting more carotenoids.

So what foods are highest in carotenoids? There's many different types of carotenoids, but there's six main ones found in food: beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lutein, zeaxanthin, astaxanthin and lycopene. The specific levels will sometimes vary quite significantly depending on the study:

Sources of beta-carotene (15): Paprika (26.2mg/100g), Red/cayenne pepper (21.8mg/100g), Chilli Powder (15mg/100g), Cooked Sweet Potatoes (9-14.2mg/100g), Raw Sweet Potatoes (8.5mg/100g), Raw Carrots (8.3mg/100g), Cooked Kale (7.8-8.5mg/100g)

Sources of alpha-carotene: Carrots (3.8mg/100g), Pumpkin (2.7mg/100g), Butternut Squash (1.1mg/100g), Tangerines (0.1mg/100g), Tomatoes (0.1mg/100g)

Sources of beta-cryptoxanthin (14): Red/cayenne pepper (6.3mg/100g), Paprika (6.2mg/100g), Chilli Powder (3.5mg/100g), Raw Butternut Squash (3.5mg/100g), Raw Persimmon (1.5mg/100g), Raw Papaya (0.6mg/100g), Raw Red Peppers (0.5mg/100g)

Sources of lutein and zeaxanthin (although these are different antioxidant carotenoids they are similar, so some nutritional data sites group them together):  Kale (raw) (39.5mg/100g) (when cooked and boiled this can drop down to 18.2mg/100g), Paprika/cayenne pepper (13.2mg/100g) (remember you'll never consume that much of this at any given time), Collards (8.9mg/100g), Radicchio (A.K.A. Red chicory) (8.8mg), Watercress (5.8mg/100g), fresh Basil (5.6mg/100g), Parsley (5.5mg/100g), Arugula (3.5mg/100g), Pistachio nuts (2.9mg/100g), Green Peas (2.5mg/100g), Coriander (2.4mg/100g), Romaine Lettuce (2.3mg/100g), Zucchini (2.1mg/100g), Red or Green Leaf Lettuce (1.7mg/100g), Brussels Sprouts (1.6mg/100g), Broccoli (1.4mg)

Sources of astaxanthin (13): Wild Sockeye Salmon (2.6-3.8mg/100g), farmed Rainbow Trout (2.5mg/100g), Wild Coho Salmon (2.0mg/100g), farmed Atlantic Salmon (0.6-0.8mg/100g), European Trout (0.6mg/100g)

Sources of lycopene: Sun-dried tomatoes (45.9mg/100g), Tomato Puree/Paste (21.7-28.7mg/100g), Tomato Sauce (17.1mg/100g), Guava (5.2mg/100g), Watermelon (4.5mg/100g), Tomatoes (2.6mg/100g), Grapefruit (1.1-1.4mg/100g)

The really cool thing about lycopene is that it is 10 times more potent than the same amount of vitamin E (11)! So if the RDA for vitamin E is somewhere between 3-15mg, this means you only need 1.5mg of lycopene to have an antioxidant effect equivalent to 15mg of vitamin E. Since we know that carotenoids like lycopene recycle vitamin E, this means that as little as 60 grams of tomatoes per day could dramatically help reduce our vitamin E requirement. Carotenoids are very soluble in fats but not very soluble in water (12), so when consuming these tomatoes ideally you want to combine them with some sort of fat.

In practical terms, this may mean that simply having one large tomato (60grams) covered in a tablespoon of olive oil, may indirectly cover all of your vitamin E requirements for the day. As previously mentioned olive oil is a pretty decent source of vitamin E and the lycopene from the tomatoes would help recycle that vitamin E very effectively.

Too much olive oil can compromise vitamin E status long term by increasing our vitamin E requirement (through increased PUFA intake - mentioned above). If you want to avoid consuming olive oil as your source of vitamin E, here are some of the most easily accessible vitamin E containing foods you could consume. 

Radicchio (A.K.A. Red chicory): 2.3mg/100g

Sweet Red Peppers: 1.6mg/100g

Broccoli raab (A.K.A. "rapini" or "cime di rapa"): 1.6mg/100g

Parsnips: 1.5mg/100g

Butternut squash: 1.5mg/100g

Pumpkin: 1.1mg/100g

Asparagus: 1.1mg/100g

Watercress: 1.0mg/100g

Leek: 0.9mg/100g

Brussels sprouts: 0.9mg/100g

Broccoli: 0.8mg/100g

Some foods such as spinach are high in vitamin E (2mg/100g) but these have been left out because of the other factors that make them suboptimal foods. What's wrong with spinach? See this page for why spinach can cause calcium loss.

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Disclaimer: Food supplements are intended to correct nutritional deficiencies, maintain an adequate intake of certain nutrients, or to support specific physiological functions. The ThinkPharm Formula (or any other food supplement) is not a medicine and therefore cannot and does not claim to treat or prevent disease. All content on this website is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. None of the scientific studies quoted on this website qualify as proof or implication that ThinkPharm Health's supplements treat or prevent disease. Findings of scientific studies do not always represent reality. It is always difficult for scientific studies to reach accurate conclusions regarding nutrition and its relationship to diseases. Please consult your healthcare professional before making any significant changes to your diet and lifestyle. ThinkPharm Health is not liable for risks or issues associated with using or acting on information from this website.