Vitamin E Mixed Tocopherols

What Is Vitamin E Mixed Tocopherols?

Vitamin E is not one compound but a family of eight. This softgel leads with d-alpha tocopherol at 268 mg per serving, the form the human body holds on to, and carries beta, delta and gamma tocopherols alongside it in organic extra virgin olive oil.

How It Works in the Body

Cell membranes are built from fats, and fats oxidize. One radical can start a chain reaction that travels through a membrane a fatty acid at a time. Vitamin E sits in that membrane and ends the chain: it gives up a hydrogen atom to the radical, which stops the reaction and leaves the vitamin itself mildly oxidized. Vitamin C then hands the electron back.

In the liver, a transfer protein picks alpha-tocopherol out of the mix and loads it into lipoproteins, which is how that form reaches tissue in quantity.

What It Supports

• Antioxidant defense: Supports the body's antioxidant defenses inside cell membranes.
• Immune function: Vitamin E supports normal immune function.
• Skin: Vitamin E is part of the skin's own lipid layer and supports normal skin.
• Vitamin C teamwork: Vitamin C regenerates oxidized vitamin E, so the two work as a pair.

Who It May Suit

Vitamin E comes mainly from nuts, seeds, wheat germ and vegetable oils, so this may suit people whose diets are light on all four. The softgel shell is bovine gelatin, which rules it out for vegetarians and vegans.

Good To Know

The d- prefix marks the natural form; synthetic dl-alpha tocopherol is a mixture of eight stereoisomers, one of which matches it. Vitamin E is fat-soluble and is absorbed along with dietary fat. At higher intakes it affects platelet activity, so talk with your provider before use if you take a blood thinner or have surgery coming up.