The relationship between dose of vitamin E and suppression of oxidative stress in humans
Over the past few years, Vit E has taken somewhat of a beating in the medical literature. However, when you look at several aspects of the literature, a few problems have jumped to mind.
First, almost all studies have looked at the alpha tocopherol form of Vit E, despite the fact that Mother Nature provides her tocopherols mainly in the form of gamma tocopherol and that giving high doses of alpha tocoperol lowers serum levels of gamma. Next, Vit E was given as an isolated supplement, and yet we have know for several decades now that Vit E, when there are no water soluble antioxidants nearby, can actually become a pro-oxidant instead of an antioxidant.
Finally, in this study, the authors actually look at a functional aspect of Vit E supplementation levels and found that there were no real changes until we hit a rather large dose of 1600 IU per day. Kind of makes all prior studies looking at only 400 IU usage somewhat obsolete, huh?
