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Dr. Gillaspy has taught health science at University of Phoenix and Ashford University and has a degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic.
If any of the vitamins needed by your body qualified as a superhero, it would be vitamin E. I say this because vitamin E is an antioxidant that protects your cell membranes from harm. Vitamin E's villain would be free radicals, which are highly reactive molecules that are missing an electron. These villainous free radicals go berserk inside your body, madly searching for an extra electron to grab a hold of to make them feel more stable. As they bounce around on their search, they cause damage to everything they run into, resulting in damage to your cells.
Our superhero, vitamin E, is capable of donating electrons to the free radicals. This calms the free radicals down and stops their mad dash of destruction through your body. So, the more vitamin E superheroes you have in your body, the fewer free radical villains you have creating problems. Now, you might be thinking that you should pump your body full of vitamin E. Well, before we get too far ahead of ourselves let's learn a little more about vitamin E and what happens inside of you when there is too much or too little of this important vitamin.
Because vitamin E is needed to protect your cell membranes, a vitamin E deficiency causes cell membranes to break down. Let's take a look at just what this means for your health. If the cell membranes that break down are the ones that belong to your red blood cells, you could develop hemolytic anemia, which is a type of anemia characterized by the destruction of red blood cells.
This is an easy term to recall if you remember that the prefix 'hemo-' refers to blood and the ending '-lytic' refers to destruction. So hemolytic anemia is literally 'blood cell destruction.' We know that it's your red blood cells that carry oxygen around your body. If your red blood cells are destroyed, then you suffer from anemia, which means you do not have enough healthy red blood cells to transport oxygen.
Hemolytic anemia due to vitamin E deficiency is most common in premature infants. This is because the transfer of vitamin E from mom to fetus does not happen until the final few weeks of pregnancy. If the baby comes early and does not make it to full term, then it's likely that the child will be born before the vitamin can be transferred. Premature infants often receive special formulas to make up for the deficiency.
As for adults, vitamin E deficiency is rare. The vitamin can be obtained in your diet via natural food sources, such as nuts, seeds, and plant oils (like safflower oil and sunflower oil). There is also some vitamin E provided through leafy green vegetables, such as spinach and mustard greens. And, if you are not a nut or veggie fan, then you can find a number of breakfast cereals fortified with vitamin E.
Adults that may be at risk of vitamin E deficiency are those with an existing health problem that interferes with their ability to absorb fat. This is because vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin, which means it dissolves in fat and is stored in the body. Therefore, vitamin E relies on dietary fat for proper absorption. A person with insufficient fat absorption may experience symptoms related to nerve cell degeneration as the nerve cell membranes, like those of red blood cells, become vulnerable to breaking down. These symptoms might include muscle weakness, vision problems, nerve damage, and trouble walking.
As for taking in too much of this vitamin and reaching vitamin E toxicity, this rarely happens from the consumption of foods. However, toxic levels can be reached if a person is heavily using supplements. If this happens, it can create problems with blood clotting and a person could experience an increase of bleeding and bruising, so people on anticoagulants, or blood-thinning medications, should watch their intake of vitamin E.
Let's review. Vitamin E is somewhat of a superhero because it's an antioxidant that protects your cell membranes from harm. Vitamin E's villain is free radicals, which are highly reactive molecules that are missing an electron. Free radicals cause destruction inside your body until vitamin E gives them an electron, which calms them down and saves the day.
A vitamin E deficiency causes cell membranes to break down. If the cell membranes belong to your red blood cells, then it could lead to hemolytic anemia, which is a type of anemia characterized by the destruction of red blood cells. Hemolytic anemia due to vitamin E deficiency is most common in premature infants. Vitamin E deficiency is rare in adults, but can cause symptoms related to nerve cell degeneration, such as muscle weakness, vision problems, nerve damage, and trouble walking.
Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin, which means it dissolves in fat and is stored in the body. Toxic levels can build up if a person is heavily using supplements. Vitamin E toxicity symptoms may include an increase in bleeding and bruising.
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