You may have seen vitamin E on the label of your moisturiser, but why? What does vitamin E do for your wellbeing, and is applying it to your skin the only way to reap its wellness benefits?
Vitamin E is actually found in a variety of foods, such as spinach, peanut butter, sunflower seeds, nuts and vegetable oils. The reason you may have seen it as a prominent ingredient in your skin cream is that vitamin E acts as an antioxidant, and may play a key role in preserving your health during the ageing process. Your body contains free radicals, which are environmental by-products caused by pollution, smoking, and ultraviolet radiation that promote oxidative stress. However, vitamin E powerfully protects you against the damaging effects of free radicals, such as weakened body cells age-related diseases like cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
According to numerous studies, if you eat a vitamin E-rich diet, you may be able to delay or prevent these age-related chronic diseases, but a growing body of evidence suggests that adding a vitamin E supplement to your daily repertoire of healthy habits may not provide the same benefits. In the 2012 Journal of Alzheimer’s disease, a meta-analysis was published in which it was found that vitamin E intake through diet — not supplements — lowered the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
In addition, researchers from Rutgers University in New Jersey reported in Cancer Prevention Research that the type of vitamin E found in foods was cancer preventative. However, the 2012 study found that alpha tocopheral (a form of vitamin E supplements) did not prevent cancer. A recent review of epidemiological and clinical trials on vitamin E, published in Trends in Molecular Medicine, also concluded that the supplemental form of vitamin E yielded disappointing results. Not only did supplements fall short of slashing cancer risk, but they also failed in protecting against neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
Therefore, it’s clear to see that the power isn’t in the pill, but in the food. You should be getting a healthy dose of vitamin E in your diet on a daily basis. The best source is wheat germ oil, as one tablespoon can provide 100% of your daily values (DV). However, other excellent sources are sunflower seeds (37% DV per ounce), dry roasted almonds (34% DV per ounce), dry roasted hazelnuts (22% DV per ounce) and peanut butter (15% DV per two tablespoons).
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