Vitamin E (tocopherol) is essential to our health and vitality because it performs so many important functions in our bodies. Some people maintain that it has near-magic powers, like improving virility.
Found in almonds, sunflower seeds, hazelnuts, peanut butter, peanuts, spinach, and broccoli, vitamin E is easy to find in food. Daily servicing for adults should be 15mg and for children 4-7mg per day.
Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin, but unlike other fat-soluble vitamins only a small amount is stored in the body, mainly in the glands. A regular supply can be obtained from vitamin E rich foods or from supplements.
A List of Rich Sources of Vitamin E
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What does vitamin E do?
Whether vitamin E is a miracle vitamin is open to some debate, but there is no doubt that it plays a protective and restorative part in many body functions. Its primary role is to act as what is called an anti-oxidant, which means that it protects nutrients (including vitamins A, B & C and unsaturated fats) in the body from damage by oxygen. It does this by working with the mineral selenium.
Vitamin E plays an important part in :
- the working of our hearts
- dissolving clots
- opening up new channels of blood supply
- dilating blood vessels and strengthening blood capillary walls
- improving the power and efficient working of our muscle tissue
- acting as a natural diuretic
- helping the growth of new skin and prevents the formation of excessive scar tissue
- resisting infection and the effects of pollution
- possibly, increasing fertility in men
- delaying the aging process (hence why it’s so popular as a virility vitamin)
Never exceed the dosage for vitamin E, unless under medical supervision.
References :
Office of Dietary Supplements – National Institutes of Health