Vitamin E refers to any or all of the group of fat-soluble vitamins consisting of tocopherols. Vitamin E is essential for normal reproduction, muscle development, the resistance of erythrocytes to hemolysis, and various other biochemical functions in the human body. The substance acts as an intracellular oxidant and works to maintain the stability of polyunsaturated fatty acids and other fatlike substances, including vitamin A and hormones of the pituitary, adrenal, and sex glands. A deficiency in vitamin E leads to muscle degeneration, abnormalities in the vascular system, megaloblastic anemia, hemolytic anemia, infertility, creatinuria, and liver and kidney damage. Deficiency is also associated with the aging process. The richest dietary sources are wheat germ, soybean, cottonseed, peanut and corn oils, margarine, whole raw seeds and nuts, soybeans, eggs, butter, liver, sweet potatoes, and the leaves of many vegetables, such as turnip greens. Vitamin E is stored in the body for a long periods of time so that severe deficiency is rare. The substance is considered nontoxic except in hypertensive patients and those with chronic rheumatic heart disease (Mosby's Medical and Nursing Dictionary, 2nd edition 835).
A role has been suggested for vitamin E as an antioxidant that may prevent serious disease by preventing the harmful oxidation of fats in the blood and so protecting arteries from the damage that leads to heart disease. Blood cholesterol comes in two forms, the "good" high-density lipoproteins (HDLs) and the "bad" low-density lipoproteins (LDLs). A theory now suggests that some LDLs are worse than others, with oxidized LDLs being the ones that clog arteries. A recent study from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas demonstrated that the LDLs of men receiving 800 International Units (IU) of vitamin E a day were only half as likely to become oxidized as those receiving no supplemental vitamin E. ...