Saturday, March 14, 2009

Vitamin E(sources/functions/effects/requirement/deficiency)

Vitamin E is the generic description for a group pf lipid soluble tocol and tocotrienol derivatives possessing varying degrees of vitamin activity.

Nevertheless, vitamin E is essntialbecause it prevents damage to cell membranes by oxidant.

Sources

Corn oil, corn, peanut oil, peanut butter, rice bran oil, wheat germ oil, bananas grapes and orange are the Vitamin E rich sources.

Antioxidant effects

Vitamin e is the nature’s best antioxidant. An antioxidant may be defined as any substance, which, when present at low concentration (when compared with those of an oxidisable substrate), siginificanly delays or prevents oxidation of that substrate.

Requirement of Vitamin E

Minimum requirements are given as 5 to 10 mg alphatocopherol in infants, 10 to 15 mg for children and 15mg for adults, when the diet contains at least 0.1ppm Se, adequate amounts of sulphur containing amino acids and no more than 1.55 linoleic acid.

A daily dose of 200 to 600 mg is said to be innocuous.

Deficiency of vitamin E

Vitamin E deficiency is a very rare problem that results in damage to nerves. When vitamin E deficiency does occur, it strikes people with diseases that prevent the absorption of dietary fats and fat-soluble nutrients. Since vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin, it has some of the properties of fat.

When vitamin E deficiency occurs, it strikes people with diseases that prevent the absorption of dietary fats and fat-soluble nutrients. These diseases include cystic fibrosis, pancreatitis, and cholestasis (bile-flow obstruction). Bile salts, produced in the liver, are required for the absorption of fats. Cholestasis causes a decrease in the formation of bile salts and the consequent failure of the body to absorb dietary fats. For this reason, this disease may result in vitamin E deficiency. Premature infants may be at risk for vitamin E deficiency because they may be born with low tissue levels of the vitamin, and because they have a poorly developed capacity for absorbing dietary fats.

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