One of the important facts about vitamin E is that it is a collective name for a group of eight antioxidants made up of 4 tocopherols and 4 tocotrienols, of which only alpha-tocopherol is active in the human body. Vitamin E functions like any other antioxidant, by minimizing the damage caused by Fat Metrix System Review free radicals. Other facts about vitamin E that everyone should know are its sources, and positive and negative effects.
Among the important facts about vitamin E is its ability to combat free radicals because of its antioxidant properties. Free radicals, which are produced in the human body as a part of routine metabolism, are a group of atoms with an unpaired electron. Free radicals are highly reactive in nature and while combining with adjacent molecules, appropriate electrons from healthy molecules to become stable which leaves the former healthy molecules unstable.
It is among the well known facts about vitamin E that it can prevent this cell destabilization by preventing the appropriation of the electron by the free radicals. Antioxidants have an extra electron that they share with the free radicals and thus protect the body cells from the possibility of losing their electrons and making the conditions conducive to many diseases like cancer or cardiovascular problems. Other important facts about vitamin E are that it protects essential fatty acids and vitamin A from oxidation.
Limited information is so far available about effects of vitamin E overdose because studies on its long term usage are yet to be conducted. More studies have been conducted on animals on the effects of vitamin E and based on this it has been established that it is an anticoagulant. This means that overdose of the vitamin could lead to bleeding. The dose facts about vitamin E, as set by the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine, are a maximum of 1000mg, or 1500 international units per day.