Dear Friends,
This year we’ve been getting many inquiries about taking vitamin E in a supplement.
I was curious why and discovered that recently there was a fire that destroyed a facility that produces a sizable portion of the world’s synthetic vitamin E.
As a result, many consumers are looking for other options because their product isn’t available or costs a lot more.
Today, I’m going to review what we believe you should look for in a vitamin E supplement, and why I think you should upgrade and choose a supplement that includes what we call the Super Vitamin E - because science is showing it may be a much more potent form of this antioxidant.
Don’t Take Synthetic Vitamin E
The first piece of advice is – don’t take synthetic vitamin E as a supplement. It’s structurally different from natural vitamin E, and not as well absorbed or bioavailable in the body.
Natural vitamin E reaches the bloodstream in significantly higher amounts, and on top of this, is much more efficient at reaching cells and organ tissues than synthetic vitamin E.
As a result, natural vitamin E can do a much better job of supporting your health goals.
Let’s remember that we take dietary supplements because we’re trying to make up for shortfall in nutrient intake from food.
So give the body what it wants and needs – the natural form of vitamin E, which is known as alpha tocopherol, and is the same form your body gets from food.
How to Tell if the Vitamin E is Synthetic or Natural
You can tell the difference by looking at the label. On the Supplement Facts panel, next to where the vitamin E is listed, synthetic vitamin E will be labeled as dl-alpha tocopherol, with the “dl” being the tipoff that it’s synthetic.
Natural vitamin E is listed as d-alpha tocopherol, so no “dl”, just the “d.” Or the label may simply indicate the food or plant source that provides the natural form of vitamin E.
This is the case with our TrueMulti plant-based multi-vitamin. The label indicates the vitamin E is from the Organic Food Blend that provides almost all of the vitamins in TrueMulti.
You’ll also see that TrueMulti offers 223 % of vitamin E, in the form of natural alpha-tocopherol. This is a good amount for most people to take in a supplement on top of what you get from food intake.
If you doctor advises you to take more for a specific reason related to your health, then you should take more, but vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin and accumulates in the body. So while getting too little is not ideal, likewise taking too much is not advisable.
A Better & More Potent Vitamin E
Let’s now turn to what we think is a better and more potent vitamin E to supplement.
It naturally contains both the alpha-tocopherol form of vitamin E, and 4 other forms of vitamin E known as tocotrienols.
You may be thinking – “what do you mean 4 other forms of vitamin E?”
Vitamin E is a family of 8 compounds – 4 tocopherols and 4 tocotrienols. Of the tocopherols, “alpha” is the most potent and most common type found in the foods we eat in the United States.
However, it’s the tocotrienols that have been generating a lot of buzz in the scientific community because research indicates they may be a lot more potent than alpha-tocopherol.
One of the first to demonstrate this was the late Dr. Lester Packer, a renowned antioxidant researcher. Dr. Packer’s work indicated that tocotrienols' antioxidant activity may be 40 to 60 times greater than regular vitamin E.
This discovery sparked a wave of tocotrienol research over the last 25 years, which continues today.
And much of this work found that tocotrienols combined with alpha-tocopherol can offer benefits not seen with alpha-tocopherol (the regular vitamin E) alone.
Brain, Heart & Liver Support
To date, we think the research shows that the most powerful benefits of supplementing with tocotrienols are in 3 areas: brain heath, liver health and cardiovascular and heart health.
My personal favorite is the brain health support because it’s been shown that taking tocotrienols may help protect the vascular network in the brain, which becomes more fragile as we age.
To my knowledge, this support is unique among supplements, which alone makes tocotrienols valuable.
However, this is just one of several ways tocotrienols can support brain health and may help explain why some studies have associated higher blood levels of tocotrienols with better cognitive function, particularly in seniors.
For liver health, tocotrienols may help you maintain normal liver enzyme levels, healthy concentrations of triglycerides in the liver, and help protect liver cells from oxidation damage, all of which are important for normal liver function.
Tocotrienols can also support cardiovascular and heart health in multiple ways.
I think the most powerful are how the antioxidant power of tocotrienols can help support artery flexibility and blood flow. As you likely know, we need healthy blood flow for many reasons including for delivering oxygen and nutrients throughout the body.
Even more exciting is we’re still in the early stages of tocotrienol research, and there’s much more to come.
Why Weren’t These Benefits Discovered Sooner?
The main reason is tocotrienol intake is such a small part of US and Western diets and the food we eat, they were overlooked for a long time.
In addition, the structural difference between tocopherols and tocotrienols is very slight. The only difference is in the tail of the molecules – but we now know this makes a big difference in the body.
Tocotrienols have an unsaturated tail, which makes them more nimble and able to penetrate cell membranes more efficiently.
This is believed to be why they may be the more potent members of the vitamin E family.
However, tocotrienols aren’t as easily absorbed during digestion, which is a consideration in the supplement you choose – so let’s turn to that now.
The Super Vitamin E
Our TrueE supplement is made with a sustainable red palm oil extract that naturally gives you the best of vitamin E.
You get both natural alpha-tocopherol and all 4 tocotrienols.
That’s a good start, but as I mentioned, the absorption and bioavailability of tocotrienols is something to be mindful of when choosing a supplement.
That’s why the red palm oil ingredient we use in TrueE is EVnol Suprabio. This ingredient includes an enhanced delivery system that can increase the bioavailability of the tocotrienols by 250%.
Further, the research shows that the tocotrienols reach most of the key organs in the body like the brain and liver.
As important, much of the research we discussed today on potential benefits of tocotrienols used this same EVnol Suprabio ingredient in the studies.
Sustainability is important – and EVnol Suprabio is sustainably sourced on the Malaysian peninsula and the makers remain committed to treating farmers and workers ethically.
Each 2 soft gel serving of TrueE gives you 179% of the RDA for alpha-tocopherol and 100mg of the tocotrienols, with the enhanced delivery system to optimize absorption.
That’s why we call it the Super Vitamin E. We believe it’s the premier choice for vitamin E supplementation.
Yours for Good Health,
Carl Pradelli
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