Did you know that vitamin E is composed of eight members? Get to know the role of these sub-families in promoting heart health and in helping to prevent some cancers and numerous diseases.
Although vitamin E was first discovered in 1922, it is only in the last decade that the public began to be educated about the fact that vitamin E is not a single vitamin but is actually composed of eight members. These members belong either to a sub-family of four tocopherols ( alpha, beta, gamma and delta).
4 Tocopherols
alpha
beta
gamma
delta
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4 Tocotrienols
alpha
beta
gamma
delta
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VITAMIN E FAMILY
(8 members)
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Generally, most "vitamin E" supplements available in the marker refer to only one member of the E family and that is d-alpha tocopherol - this is inaccurate based on the recent studies of vitamin E.
Although alpha tocopherol is the best known vitamin E, its other seven members are also important. It is only recently that scientists found how these seven overlooked members of the E-family have extremely important functions, as well as, in promoting heart health and in helping to prevent some cancers and numerous diseases.
Vitamin E from food source
Our food contains all eight compounds of vitamin E, but gamma tocopherol is actually the most commonly occurring natural form of vitamin E in the diet. Gama tocopherol in particular also has the ability to protect against nitrogen-based free radicals, which alpha tocopherol cannot do. Nitrogen free radicals play an important role in diseases associated with chronic inflammation, including cancer, heart disease and degenerative brain disoerders.
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