Dr Peter Hill, of Met-S Care and a specialist in metabolic syndrome says the clinical trials that have investigated the role of vitamin E in health outcomes have produced mixed results.
There is generally a lot of hype around vitamin usage and consumers should do their homework. "The lesson from the vitamin E study (the Select trial) is not that the vitamin is harmful - only that in high doses it may be a risk factor in prostate cancer. In other words 'less is more' when it comes to this very important vitamin."
Vitamin E plays a number of important roles fostering human health. Not only is it essential for brain development and thus very important during pregnancy, but because it is active in the membrane of every cell in your body it also acts as a powerful antioxidant protecting against oxidative stress caused, by amongst other things, the over consumption of sugar, other refined carbohydrate as well as certain seed oils.
"The point is that because so many people suffer from high levels of blood fat, the Vitamin E, which is a fat soluble vitamin, tends to stay in the blood and not get to the cells to do the job it is intended to do. We call this an oxidative stress problem, where the Vitamin E can't get to the cells due reduce the chronic inflammation caused by high blood fats.
"In South Africa, we know that approximately 80% of obese adults have metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions that includes, among others, increased blood pressure, a high blood sugar level, excess body fat around the waist, low levels of 'good' cholesterol and high blood fat levels. Only once this syndrome is addressed through lifestyle and food choices can any vitamin start doing its job optimally.
It is also not necessary to always run out and buy a whole host of costly supplements - the best source of vitamin E is also the cheapest source - your food.
"Make sure that you get enough vitamin E by including at least one the following foods in your diet every day: almonds, sunflower seeds, olives and olive oil, avocado and avocado oil, spinach, kale and broccoli and remember, start seeing food generally as medicine that can promote wellness."
For more information, go to visit www.metscare.com.
