Will it really smoothen out
your skin?
Vitamin E, you can slather it on your skin or swallow it in a capsule.
Praised as an antioxidant, vitamin E also helps your body in a number of
other ways, such as helping your immune system and helping keep vessels
healthy.
There are claims that vitamin E, as an antioxidant, fights a host of
conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, age-related vision loss,
wrinkles, and even certain cancers. And cosmetic shelves are loaded with
goods that contain vitamin E that claim to reverse age-related skin
damage. The real benefits behind vitamin E are found in the seesaw
balance of free radicals and antioxidants.
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Free Radicals and Antioxidants
Free radicals in the body are oxygen molecules that lose an electron,
which makes them unstable. These unstable molecules interact with cells
in the body in a way that can cause damage. As the process snowballs,
cells can be damaged and you are made vulnerable to disease.
Free radicals can be created by our bodies as we age, or by everyday
factors like digestion or exercise. They’re also caused by exposure to
external things like:
tobacco smoke
ozone
environmental pollutants
radiation
Antioxidants neutralize free radicals by donating the missing electrons
that destabilize them. Antioxidants are found in many foods and are also
made in our bodies using the vitamins and minerals found in foods.
How Much Vitamin E Do You Need?
Unless your diet is very low in fat, it’s likely that you’re getting
enough vitamin E. But smoking, air pollution, and even exposure to
harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun can deplete your body’s stores of
the vitamin.
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According to the National Institutes of Health, teenagers and adults
should get about 15 mg of vitamin E a day. Pregnant women should get the
same, and breastfeeding women should up that to 19 mg.
For children, they recommend 4-5 mg for infants, 6 mg for children
between 1-3 years old, 7 mg for those between ages 4-8, and 11 mg from
ages 9-13 years.
You don’t need capsules and oil to get vitamin E. Many processed foods,
especially cereals and juices, are fortified with vitamin E. It’s also
found naturally in many foods, including:
vegetable oils, especially wheat germ, sunflower, and safflower oils
nuts and seeds
avocados and other fats
Exposing the Myths
Since their identification, free radicals, vitamin E, and other
antioxidants have been subject to research for their ability to prevent
a number of diseases.
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Macular Degeneration
Macular degeneration is the primary cause of blindness in people age 55
and older. A study conducted by the National Eye Institute found that
taking high levels of antioxidants and zinc can decrease your risk of
getting advanced macular degeneration by as much as 25 percent.
1. Heart Protection
It’s believed that people with higher levels of vitamin E are at reduced
risk of heart disease. But one study that followed over 14,000 U.S.
males for eight years found no cardiovascular benefit from taking
vitamin E supplements. In fact, the study determined that vitamin E was
associated with a higher risk of stroke.
2. Cancer
Another study that followed 35,000 men for five years found that taking
vitamin E supplements had no effect when it came to lowering any type of
cancer risk. A 2011 follow-up found that study participants who had
taken vitamin E actually had a 17 percent higher risk of developing
prostate cancer.
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3. Skin Healing
Vitamin E is widely touted as a salve that helps speed healing and
reduce scarring. While there have been a few studies that support this,
the greatest body of research indicates that vitamin E does not help
skin wounds heal faster.
One study found that slathering vitamin E oil can actually worsen the
appearance of scars, or simply have no effect at all. About a third of
participants developed contact dermatitis, which is a type of skin rash.
The Vitamin E Paradox
The rush to supplement our diets with antioxidants, including vitamin E,
may not be the best course of action. Some experts argue that taking
large doses of any antioxidant has no real preventative or therapeutic
value unless deficiency is your problem.
In March 2005, researchers from Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
published an article in the Annals of Internal Medicine, which claimed
high doses of vitamin E may significantly increase mortality by all
causes. Their findings, based on a review of 19 clinical trials,
unleashed a firestorm of rebuttals, but little in the way of scientific
proof.
So, should you use vitamin E oil? It’s not likely it will have positive
effects on your skin, and carries a high risk of skin rash. As for
taking vitamin E internally, if you take the recommended dose, it’s
considered relatively safe. Excessively high doses of vitamin E are not
recommended.
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