Vitamin therapy has moved from the fringes of the health community to a more central position as scientific evidence of the value of certain vitamins for certain therapies or as preventives has been demonstrated. Often, the evidence is inconclusive and only points to a possible link, and many people respond by taking vitamins at suggested doses in case the possible benefit is real. Research continues on such substances as Vitamin E, to which a number of health benefits have been linked by research and by anecdotal evidence that is less powerful to the scientific community but often quite powerful to the general public. Research is certain to continue on these questions, and in the meantime many people will take doses of Vitamin E to assuage health problems or to stave off possible health problems.
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 rhe...