- Has an important role in cellular respiration of muscles, especially the cardiac muscle.
- Prevents peroxide formation by being an anti-oxidant.
- Protects all the other fat-soluble vitamins against oxidation.
- Reduces scar tissue formation both internally and externally, this is why a lot of creams and ointments contain vitamin E.
- Increase formation of new blood vessels around damaged areas.
- Protects and ensures permeability of the capillary system.
However what you may not know is that there are two commonly found forms of Vitamin E in the market -- natural and synthetic. Synthetic vitamin E has been found to be virtually ineffective. Some suggest that it may even be potentially harmful, though I found no conclusive reading on that. Suffice it to say that you are much better off with natural vitamin E.
You can tell the difference by reading the label. Synthetic vitamin E is listed as "dl-alpha tocepherol". Natural vitamin E is listed as "d-alpha tocepherol". The difference is in the prefix. One way to remember it is that "dl" could stand for "don't like". You want the d-alpha, not the dl-alpha. Why pollute your body with synthetic crap? Natural is always better.
1 comment:
Actually, the "d"/ "dl" notation stands for the orientation of the molecular compound, dextro- and dextro/levo (a racemate). Basically, the natural form has one form of vitamin E, dextro, and the synthesized version has two forms, dextro and levo. The difference between the forms has to do with the arrangement of the functional groups around the compounds. Anyhoo, the dextro form is more active than levo, so natural E (dextro) is going to be more active than an equal amount of "watered down" (dextro+levo) synthetic E. Consult an organic chem book if this sort of thing gets you excited.
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