Vitamin E

World's Healthiest Foods rich in

vitamin E
Food

Sunflower Seeds
Almonds
Spinach
Swiss Chard
Avocado
Peanuts
Turnip Greens
Asparagus
Beet Greens
Mustard Greens

Cals

DRI/DV

204
132
41
35
240
207
29
40
39
36

82%
40%
25%
22%
21%
20%
18%
18%
17%
17%

Basic Description

Vitamin E is a blanket term for

eight different naturally occurring
nutrientsfour different tocopherols
and four different tocotrienols. Each of
these vitamin E types is considered a
fat-soluble antioxidant, and all eight
are found in varying degrees in our
daily diet. You may sometimes hear all
eight molecules being referred to collectively as "tocochromanols."
The most famous of the vitamin E group is alpha-tocopherol. Both with
respect to diet and high-dose supplementation, it is among the most
intensely studied of nutrients. This is because its ability to help prevent free
radical damage is well documented Public health recommendations for
vitamin E are typically measured in milligram equivalents of alphatocopherol equivalents, or mg ATE. You will find this abbreviation being
used throughout our live website charts.
However, despite the current prominence of alpha-tocopherol in public
health recommendations and nutrition research, scientists are also interested
in potential health benefits associated with lesser studied members of the
vitamin E family, especially the tocotrienols. Like tocopherols (including
alpha-tocopherol), tocotrienols are naturally occurring forms of vitamin E.
Since they cannot be converted by humans into alpha-tocopherol, the
tocotrienols are not considered relevant in meeting vitamin E needs.
However, preliminary studies suggest that tocotrienols can provide us with
health benefits in a way that is distinct from alpha-tocopherol, as well as
other tocopherols. We look forward to future research in this area.

In this introductory description of vitamin E, it is also worth mentioning

the unusually confusing nature of its units of measurement. There is really
no such thing as "milligrams of vitamin E" since this description fails to
explain what forms of the vitamin were considered when making the
determination. As mentioned earlier, our website chart present vitamin E
data in terms of "mg ATE" which stands for "milligrams of alphatocopherol equivalents." However, other types of equivalents can be used in
presenting vitamin E data. For example, equivalents of d-alpha-tocopheryl
acetate and equivalents of d-alpha-tocopheryl succinate can be used. (These
two chelated, synthetic forms of vitamin E are frequently found in dietary
supplements due to their longer shelf life).
While many of the World's Healthiest Foods are rich in vitamin E, we
see that average U.S. adults fail to come close to a minimal requirement for
this important nutrient. Below, we'll give you some guidance to help you
chose foods rich in vitamin E that will better help you meet your daily
needs.
You'll have a number of foods to choose from to build a menu that is
rich in vitamin E. We list seven of the World's Healthiest Foods as
excellent sources of vitamin E. Another six foods rate as very good sources,
while twelve foods are listed as good.

Role in Health Support

Protection Against Free Radical Damage
Vitamin E is a potent antioxidant. Because it is fat soluble, we see it
offer protection against damage to the fats that line the outside of every cell
of our body.
When the fats in our membranes become damaged, important cell
functions become compromised. Based on this important mechanism,
researchers have studied whether diets low in vitamin E are associated with
many diseases associated with aging.
We also see vitamin E protect fats from free radical damage before we
eat them. We'll talk about the role of vitamin E in protecting foods during
storage below in the Impact of Cooking, Storage, and Processing section.

Protection Against Heart Disease

Vitamin E helps protect LDL cholesterol (sometimes referred to as
"bad" cholesterol) from free radical damage. Free radical damage typically
involves an unwanted interaction with a reactive oxygen-containing
molecule. When vitamin E is deficientand under some other
circumstances as wellit is possible for LDL cholesterol to become
insufficiently protected and damaged by oxygen. When damaged in this
way, the LDL cholesterol is often referred to as "oxidized LDL." If the
process continues, it is possible for oxidized LDL to accumulate in blood
vessel walls and create the early stages of hardening of the arteries
(atherosclerosis).
Diets rich in vitamin E from vegetables, fish, and plant oilslike the
Mediterranean diet for examplehave been linked to cardiovascular
prevention in large health surveys. Understand, though, that the potential
benefits of this diet are not limited to or fully explained by vitamin E, and
that dietary supplements of vitamin E (in comparison to vitamin E in food)
have not demonstrated the same sort of preventive benefit that researchers
hoped to see.

Summary of Food Sources

Of our seven excellent sources of vitamin E, five are green leafy
vegetables. Followers of our WHFoods site will probably not be surprised
by thisgreen leafy vegetables score well as sources of many different
nutrients. With respect to vitamin E, their combination of nutrient richness
and low calories is very compelling to our rating system. Expect each
serving of greens to contain about 15 to 25% of your daily requirement.
Outside of greens, the foods with the most vitamin E tend to be high fat
foods. These include nuts, seeds, extracted oils, and fatty fish. The amount
of vitamin E per serving of nuts or seeds can vary widely, but you should
expect to receive at least about 10% of your daily need, and sometimes as
much as 80% (as we see with sunflower seeds).
Many oil rich-plants give us good amounts of vitamin E. These include
olives and avocados, both of which provide between 10-15% of your daily
need. Because these oily foods contain more calories, we rate them as good

rather than very good or excellent sources. Still, we encourage using these
plants or plant oils to help provide vitamin E.
We see a few of our World's Healthiest seafoods are rich sources of
vitamin E. Shrimp and sardines are two examples of this, with each topping
10% of daily requirements. Salmon and cod contain a little less vitamin E,
yet can still be solid contributors.
Because most U.S. residents fail to get enough vitamin E in their daily
diet, we recommend paying some attention to food sources of this
important antioxidant. As long as you make a few of these vitamin E rich
foods staple foods in your daily diet, you should be able to meet your
intake requirements through foods alone..
Perhaps the easiest way to make sure you are getting enough vitamin E
is by including sunflower seeds as snacks or as part of meals. This recipe
for Healthy Turkey Salad contains nearly the whole Dietary Reference
Intake (DRI) in one meal. Here are a few more recipesPureed Sweet Peas
and 5-Minute Collard Greens with Sunflower Seedsthat include
sunflower seeds.
We can also rely on meals that contain multiple foods providing more
modest amounts of vitamin E, and allow them to stack up to become a
more substantial amount. Our Poached Eggs Over Spinach and Mushrooms
recipe contains spinach, eggs, and olive oil as sources of vitamin E.
Together, they provide one-third of the RDA in only 10% of your daily
calorie intake.
Recipes that contain nuts and nut butters will be a nice way to add
vitamin E into your meals. You can be creative in the way you do this; for
example, our 10-Minute Apricot Bars is a dessert recipe that provides more
than 40% of the RDA for vitamin E.
There is a balance between getting plenty of fat-rich foods as sources of
vitamin E and overdoing it and letting the calories pile up. As long as you
choose wisely, you should be able to cover your vitamin E needs with just a
few rich sources.

Nutrient Rating Chart

Introduction to Nutrient Rating System Chart

In order to better help you identify foods that feature a high

concentration of nutrients for the calories they contain, we created a Food
Rating System. This system allows us to highlight the foods that are
especially rich in particular nutrients. The following chart shows the
World's Healthiest Foods that are either an excellent, very good, or good
source of vitamin E. Next to each food name, you'll find the serving size we
used to calculate the food's nutrient composition, the calories contained in
the serving, the amount of vitamin E contained in one serving size of the
food, the percent Daily Value (DV%) that this amount represents, the
nutrient density that we calculated for this food and nutrient, and the rating
we established in our rating system. For most of our nutrient ratings, we
adopted the government standards for food labeling that are found in the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration's "Reference Values for Nutrition
Labeling." Read more background information and details of our rating
system.
World's Healthiest Foods ranked as quality sources of
vitamin E

Food
Sunflower Seeds

Serving
Size

World's
Amount DRI/DV Nutrient Healthiest
Cals (mg (ATE)) (%)
Density Foods Rating

0.25 cup 204.4

12.31

82

7.2

excellent

Spinach

1 cup

41.4

3.74

25

10.8

excellent

Swiss Chard

1 cup

35.0

3.31

22

11.3

excellent

Turnip Greens

1 cup

28.8

2.71

18

11.3

excellent

Asparagus

1 cup

39.6

2.70

18

8.2

excellent

Beet Greens

1 cup

38.9

2.61

17

8.1

excellent

Mustard Greens

1 cup

36.4

2.49

17

8.2

excellent

Chili Peppers

2 tsp

15.2

2.06

14

16.2

excellent

0.25 cup 132.2

6.03

40

5.5

very good

Almonds
Broccoli

1 cup

54.6

2.26

15

5.0

very good

Bell Peppers

1 cup

28.5

1.45

10

6.1

very good

Kale

1 cup

36.4

1.11

3.7

very good

Tomatoes

1 cup

32.4

0.97

3.6

very good

Avocado

1 cup

240.0

3.11

21

1.6

good

0.25 cup 206.9

3.04

20

1.8

good

Peanuts
Shrimp

4 oz

134.9

2.49

17

2.2

good

Olives

1 cup

154.6

2.22

15

1.7

good

Olive Oil

1 TBS

119.3

1.94

13

2.0

good

Collard Greens

1 cup

62.7

1.67

11

3.2

good

Cranberries

1 cup

46.0

1.20

3.1

good

Raspberries

1 cup

64.0

1.07

2.0

good

1 2 inches 42.1

1.01

2.9

good

Kiwifruit
Carrots

1 cup

50.0

0.81

1.9

good

Green Beans

1 cup

43.8

0.56

1.5

good

Leeks

1 cup

32.2

0.52

1.9

good

World's Healthiest
Foods Rating

Rule

excellent

DRI/DV>=75% OR
Density>=7.6 AND DRI/DV>=10%

very good

DRI/DV>=50% OR
Density>=3.4 AND DRI/DV>=5%

good

DRI/DV>=25% OR
Density>=1.5 AND DRI/DV>=2.5%

Impact of Cooking, Storage and Processing

The vitamin E in foods degrades slowly over time. For example, at room
temperature, wheat flour loses about one-third of its vitamin E at close to
one year of storage. That said, most people would be making use of their
wheat flour long before this year-long time period.
Similarly, olive oil kept in a closed bottle will lose about 20-30% of its
vitamin E over six months of storage. Don't leave the bottle open, though,
as all of the vitamin E will be gone after three or four months if you do.
(While leaving olive oil in an opened bottle might sound unlikely, there are
a good number of olive oil containers in the marketplace that feature an
unsealed spout, and we do not recommend storage of olive oil in this way.
You will find many more details about olive oil storage in our Extra Virgin
Olive Oil food profile.)
Vitamin E also gets damaged by high heat cooking. For example,
heating olive oil at 340F (172C) will lead to a destruction of the vitamin
E, with almost half lost at three hours, and almost all of it gone by six
hours. At WHFoods, we do not generally recommend any heating of extra
virgin olive oil, and if we do include it in a heated sauce or other recipe, we
heat it very gently and briefly. The delicate nature of vitamin E, and the
fatty acids it protects, are good reasons to avoid heating of this oil. We
adopt a similar approach for oil-rich foods like nuts and seeds, which we
recommend be consumed in raw or minimally cooked form.
Usually in this section of our nutrient profiles, we discuss how specific
nutrients are damaged in the storage of foods. But with respect to vitamin
E, it is equally important to note that this nutrient can protect the foods

from damage. For example, meat from chickens fed diets high in vitamin E
show less evidence for free radical damage to their fats over 10 days of
storage. Presumably, this vitamin E richness in the food consumed by the
chickens helped protect their body fat from damage by oxygen. (We don't
have research comparing the human health consequences of consuming
chicken fat with and without varying degrees of free radical damage. But
we do know that animals fed diets that are rich in vitamin E typically
provide us with animal foods that have good amounts of this vitamin as
well.)

Risk of Dietary Deficiency

Given that the average U.S. adult eats exactly half the Dietary Reference
Intake (DRI) for vitamin E7.5 mg of the recommended 15 mg per day
the risk of dietary deficiency of vitamin E in the United States is
substantial. In fact, vitamin E is one of the most common vitamin
deficiencies in the United States, with as many as 92% of men and 98% of
women failing to reach target intake goals.
In 2006, a research group from Tufts University did a statistical model
of the best way to ensure vitamin E nutrition while staying within normal
calorie levels and without impairing other nutrient intake. Among their
conclusions, they asserted that a low intake of nuts and seeds70% of
their subjects didn't eat any of eitherwas predictive of low vitamin E
intake. Analyzing this conclusion in reverse, this is further evidence that
nuts and seeds can be a good place to start when trying to achieve strong
vitamin E nutrition. (Of course, low intake of dark green leafy vegetables
by the average U.S. adult is another reason why so many people in the U.S.
fail to meet their vitamin E needs.)
At first, it may seem like a paradox that we tend to eat diets high in fat,
yet fail to have reliable vitamin E nutrition. That's because not every type
of dietary fat is as rich in vitamin E as nuts or seeds. The way plant cooking
oils are manufactured and processed can lead to significant destruction of
the nutrient before it ever gets to your plate. Generally speaking, you
should expect highly processed foods (e.g., oils made from nuts and seeds)

to contain less vitamin E than their whole, natural counterparts (e.g., whole
nuts and seeds).

Other Circumstances that Might

Contribute to Deficiency
Diets that overly restrict fat can limit vitamin E intake substantially. It
will not be impossible to achieve vitamin E nutrition with a very low fat
diet, but you'll need to work much harder to do it. For example, if you
decided that you wanted to get 100% of your DRI for vitamin E from
sunflower seeds aloneour richest WHFoods sourceyou would need to
allow for 18 grams of fat in your day's food just to provide that amount. In
an 1,800-calorie meal plan, that amount of fat would represent 9% of total
calories all by itself. If you consumed an additional 18 grams of fat from all
of the rest of your foods on that day, you diet for that day would already be
close to 20% fat. On the other hand, if you were willing to obtain your
vitamin E exclusively from dark green leafy vegetables, you could get
100% of the DRI from about 5 cups, representing 150-200 calories but only
2-5 grams of fat.
Any disease or medication that impairs the ability to digest fats will also
endanger vitamin E nutrition. If this potentially describes you, make sure to
talk to your doctor to make sure that you are protected against deficiency.

Relationship with Other Nutrients

Diets high in polyunsaturated fatsthe type found in most fish and
vegetable oilsmay increase your requirement for vitamin E. Some
sources recommend an older standard of an extra 0.6 mg of vitamin E for
each gram of polyunsaturated fat. We are not convinced that this level of
specificity is well supported, even though the principle of increasing
vitamin E intake along with increased intake of polyunsaturated fat makes
good sense to us. The World's Healthiest Foods recipes tend to be moderate
in polyunsaturated fats (and much higher in the more stable
monounsaturated fats than most U.S. diets), and as such, we believe that

our WHFoods recommendation of 15 milligrams of d-alpha-tocopherol

equivalents per day should suffice for the average person.
Like other dietary antioxidants, vitamin E needs help from multiple
nutrients to do its job at maximum efficiency. In particular, vitamin C helps
to recycle vitamin E so it can continue to neutralize free radicals over and
over again.
If vitamin K levels are low, too much vitamin E can lead to problems
involving too easy bleeding from injuries and too slow closing of wounds.
The amounts of vitamin E necessary to create this effect are large, however,
and probably not achievable via diet alone. (In other words, dietary
supplementation of vitamin E would most likely be required to create this
degree of imbalance between vitamin E and vitamin K.)

Risk of Dietary Toxicity

We are not aware of a single published report of adverse effects from
dietary vitamin E. Reflecting this lack of evidence for harm, the National
Academy of Sciences set the Tolerable Upper Intake Limit (UL) for
vitamin E at 1000 mg, more than 60 times the DRI, and more than 100
times what an average American eats in a day. You can feel confident that
you are not eating toxic levels of vitamin E in your daily diet. Translated
into IU, 1,000 milligrams of vitamin E represents 1,490 IU of d-alphatocopherol and 1,360 IU of d-alpha-tocopheryl acetate.

Disease Checklist

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Diabetes
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Macular degeneration
Cataract

Intermittent claudication
Cold sores
Immune health

Public Health Recommendations

In 2000, the National Academy of Sciences established a set of Dietary
Reference Intakes (DRIs) for vitamin E. These recommendations included
Adequate Intake (AI) levels for infants under one year of age, and
Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for everyone else. These
milligrams amounts represent alpha-tocopherol equivalents, or mg ATE.
DRIs for vitamin E are as follows:
0-6 months: 4 mg
6-12 months: 5 mg
1-3 years: 6 mg
4-8 years: 7 mg
9-13 years: 11 mg
14+ years: 15 mg
Pregnant women: 15 mg
Lactating women: 19 mg
The most common DRI for vitamin E15 milligrams ATE (alphatocopherol equivalents) translates into approximately 22 IU of d-alphatocopherol and 20 IU of d-alpha-tocopheryl acetate. (The form of d-alphatocopherol is a naturally occurring form of vitamin E that is chemically
classified as "non-esterified" and d-alpha-tocopheryl acetate is an esterified
form commonly found in supplements due to its longer shelf life.)
The 2000 DRI recommendations also included a Tolerable Upper Intake
Limit (UL) for adults of 1000 mg per day. As discussed above, this is more
than an order of magnitude beyond even what the most vitamin E-rich diet
could ever contain. For this reason, we should consider this UL more for
supplement intake than guidance around dietary choices. Translated into
IU, 1,000 milligrams of vitamin E represent 1,490 IU of d-alpha-tocopherol
and 1,360 IU of d-alpha-tocopheryl acetate.
The Daily Value (DV) for vitamin E is 30 IU. The measurement of IU,
short for International Units, is an older way to quantify vitamin E with 1
milligram of d-alpha-tocopherol from food equivalent to 1.49 IU.

References

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Source: http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=111