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Vitamin E
Assessment and Plan: Vitamin E
Vitamin E may be harmful in supplement form, which is not recommended except within a few specific cases. Rather than vitamin E supplements, vitamin E is best consumed only from food sources such as tree nuts and from vegetables such as tomatoes and spinach. Until more research is done, vitamin E supplements should be avoided.
The Food and Nutrition Board at the Institute of Medicine Recommended Intakes for Individuals for Vitamin E (16):
Infants 0 to 6 months: 4 mg/day, 7 to 12 months: 5 mg/day
Children: 1 to 3 years: 6 mg/day
4 to 8 years: 7 mg/day
9 to 13 years: 11 mg/day
Adolescents and Adults: 14 and older: 15 mg/day
The highest safe level of vitamin E supplements for adults is 1,500 IU/day for natural forms of vitamin E, and 1,000 IU/day for the man-made (synthetic) form.
The negative findings in various research has shown vitamin E supplements to be harmful in several ways: Vitamin E supplements have been shown to increase mortality in risk trials (2,3), have yielded a negative result when used for retinitis pigmentosa (8), and may increase the risk of bleeding by reducing vitamin K levels and inhibiting platelet aggregation (5,6).
Vitamin E supplements may be beneficial for eye health in age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The antioxidants (vitamin C, 500 mg; vitamin E, 400 IU; beta carotene, 15 mg; and zinc, 80 mg as zinc oxide with 2 mg of cupric oxide) reduced the risk of AMD progression among subjects in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) (9)
Vitamin E may reduce colonic adenomas, but it is difficult to separate out whether the benefit was due to the vitamin E, one of the other antioxidants in the study, or the combination of antioxidants. The supplement included vitamin E (70 mg per day), combined with vitamin A (30,000 IU per day), and vitamin C (1 gram per day). Over about 18 months, adenoma recurrence was 5.7% of the antioxidant group vs. 35.9% in the placebo group. (13)
Vitamin E supplements may reduce the rate of preterm birth but showed increased rates of threatened preterm delivery and threatened abortion (12), and other possible harmful effects (15).
Vitamin E may help young children prevent asthma when the mother consumes higher amounts of vitamin E during gestation but a guide on amount of vitamin E has not been determined and more research is needed (10). Expecting mothers should avoid vitamin E deficiency by intake of this nutrient from food sources.
