Take care your health

Published: Wednesday April 17, 2013 MYT 10:44:00 AM
Updated: Wednesday April 17, 2013 MYT 10:48:26 AM

No health risks from taking too much vitamin E, study says

  Taking too much vitamin E is not a health risk, a new US scientific review finds. ©devi/shutterstock.com

Despite prior concerns that too much vitamin E could be a health risk, a new scientific review finds this to not be the case.
Researchers from Oregon State University conclude that biological mechanisms exist to routinely eliminate excess levels of the vitamin, which makes it "almost impossible to take a harmful amount," they said on April 15.
"I believe that past studies which have alleged adverse consequences from vitamin E have misinterpreted the data," said lead researcher Maret Traber.
"Taking too much vitamin E is not the real concern," she said. "A much more important issue is that more than 90 percent of people in the US have inadequate levels of vitamin E in their diet."
Vitamin E is an antioxidant and a very important nutrient for proper function of many organs, nerves and muscles, and is also an anticoagulant that can reduce blood clotting.
You can find vitamin E in oils, meat, leafy greens, avocados, and nuts, but it is often consumed at inadequate dietary levels, especially with increasing emphasis on low-fat diets, the researchers noted.
In the review of how vitamin E is metabolised, researchers found that two major systems in the liver work to control the level of vitamin E in the body, and they routinely excrete excessive amounts. Very high intakes from supplementation only succeed in doubling the tissue levels of vitamin E, which is not harmful, they said.
"Toxic levels of vitamin E in the body simply do not occur," Traber said. "Unlike some other fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamins A and D, it's not possible for toxic levels of vitamin E to accumulate in the liver or other tissues."
Vitamin E, because of its interaction with vitamin K, can cause some increase in bleeding, research has shown.