What does vitamin E do?

What does vitamin E do?

In Great Britain, the one authorised health claim for vitamin E is that it contributes to the protection of cells from oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is the chemical wear that reactive forms of oxygen cause in the body's cells, including the fats in cell walls.

The NHS describes vitamin E as a group of compounds, and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) treats only one of them, alpha-tocopherol, as the form the body needs. It dissolves in fat rather than water, and most of the body's store sits in fat tissue, where levels take years to change. That's why the NHS says you don't need vitamin E in your diet every day.

You'll often read that vitamin E is good for your skin, eyes and immune system, and the NHS page describes it that way too. When health claims for vitamin E were assessed, claims for skin, hair, nails, teeth, bones, the lens of the eye, the heart, memory, energy and the immune system weren't authorised, so a vitamin E product sold here can't make them.

How much vitamin E do you need?

The NHS says adults need 4 mg a day (men) or 3 mg (women), and that a varied, balanced diet should provide it. EFSA sets higher amounts for Europe, 13 mg for men and 11 mg for women, based on what healthy populations eat rather than on a measured requirement. The two are worked out in different ways, which is why they differ.

Most people in the UK get plenty. In the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) for 2019 to 2023, men aged 19 to 64 averaged about 9.9 mg a day from food alone and women about 8.6 mg.

What contains vitamin E?

Plant oils, nuts and seeds, and wheatgerm are the best sources, according to the NHS. The figures below are from the UK's official food composition data (CoFID, Public Health England, 2021), with portions from the British Dietetic Association (BDA). Figures are rounded.

A handful of sunflower seeds alone covers a man's daily need nearly three times over. Olive oil has about a tenth of sunflower oil's vitamin E. Wheatgerm, sold for sprinkling on cereal or yoghurt, has 16.2 mg per 100 g, and wheatgerm oil has more than any other food in CoFID at 137 mg per 100 g.

Vitamin E deficiency

Vitamin E deficiency is uncommon. EFSA lists the conditions behind it: cystic fibrosis, cholestatic liver disease (where bile can't flow properly), inherited problems with how the body carries fat in the blood, and a rare genetic condition called ataxia with vitamin E deficiency (AVED). In each of them, the body can't absorb or carry fat-soluble nutrients normally.

The signs are mainly in the nerves. A 2022 review of AVED describes poor balance and coordination (ataxia), loss of reflexes, and loss of the sense of where your limbs are and of vibration, with eye checks for damage to the retina. Because the body's store sits in fat tissue and changes slowly, deficiency in adults develops over a long time.

None of these signs is specific to vitamin E, and blood levels are hard to read: a 2014 review notes that blood vitamin E rises with blood fats, so a normal result doesn't always mean tissues have enough. If you have numbness, tingling or problems with balance, the NHS advises seeing a GP. Where deficiency is confirmed, treatment is medical. The UK's licensed vitamin E medicines are for deficiency caused by malabsorption, at doses specialists set and monitor, and EFSA notes these conditions can need grams a day.

Natural or synthetic vitamin E, and IU

Natural vitamin E is d-alpha-tocopherol (also written RRR-alpha-tocopherol). The synthetic form is dl-alpha-tocopherol (all-rac). They aren't equal: in a study EFSA cites, the body kept natural and synthetic vitamin E in a ratio of about 2 to 1, because it retains only part of the synthetic mix.

That's why international units (IU) convert differently. The US Institute of Medicine's factors are 1 IU = 0.67 mg for the natural form and 1 IU = 0.45 mg for the synthetic form, so 400 IU is about 268 mg of natural vitamin E or 180 mg of synthetic. UK labels give milligrams, and our vitamin unit converter handles IU.

If a label says "mixed tocopherols", look for the amount given as vitamin E or alpha-tocopherol. In the EU definition of mixed tocopherols used in supplements, alpha-tocopherol makes up less than 20% of the mix.

Liquid vitamin E

Liquid vitamin E usually means one of three things. Oral drops and liquid supplements work like capsules: check how many milligrams are in each drop or millilitre, measure with the dropper provided and count it in your daily total. Licensed liquid medicines, such as a vitamin E oral solution for children with cholestatic liver disease, are prescribed and monitored. Vitamin E oil sold for skin is a cosmetic, outside the scope of this guide.

Vitamin E capsules: how much is in one?

It depends on the product, so read the label: capsules are labelled in milligrams (mg) or international units (IU), and the two numbers aren't the same. The NHS says adults need 3 to 4 mg a day and that 540 mg (800 IU) or less a day from supplements is unlikely to cause harm. With the conversion above, a capsule labelled 400 IU of natural vitamin E holds about 268 mg, so two a day come to about 536 mg, right at that NHS figure before you count a multivitamin. A 400 IU capsule of the synthetic form holds about 180 mg. Most UK adults already get more than the NHS amount from food, so a capsule is optional. Check whether the label gives mg or IU, whether the form is natural or synthetic, and how much alpha-tocopherol a mixed tocopherols product contains. Our vitamin unit converter turns IU into mg.

Vitamin E oil for face and hair: what is known

Less than product labels suggest, and this guide makes no cosmetic claims. For skin, a 2016 review of vitamin E in dermatology (Keen and Hassan) described a paucity of controlled clinical studies and said studies of vitamin E for burns and scars had been disappointing. It added that topical vitamin E can rarely cause contact dermatitis, a skin reaction, and that products usually combine vitamin E with other ingredients, which makes it hard to say which one is behind any effect. For hair, a 2019 review of vitamins and minerals in hair loss (Almohanna and colleagues) said there were no data to support a role for vitamin E in common patterned hair loss or in telogen effluvium, a temporary form of shedding. Two studies of vitamin E blood levels in alopecia areata, a patchy form of hair loss, disagreed. If your skin or hair has changed, or a product irritates, stop using it and ask a pharmacist or GP.

Can you have too much vitamin E?

Yes, from supplements. The NHS says there isn't enough evidence to know what high daily doses do, and that 540 mg (800 IU) or less a day from supplements is unlikely to cause harm. EFSA's upper level, reviewed in 2024, is 300 mg a day for adults from all sources, and the effect it guards against is on blood clotting and the risk of bleeding.

EFSA says its upper level doesn't apply to people taking anticoagulant or antiplatelet medicines, such as aspirin, or to people who can't absorb vitamin K properly, and that any vitamin E supplement for them should be medically supervised. The prescribing information for a licensed vitamin E medicine also warns that large doses can increase bleeding in people taking warfarin-type anticoagulants, and advises monitoring blood clotting (INR).

To see how vitamin E fits with the rest of a routine, read supplements to take together.

Where Natura fits

Natura's Daily Vitamin E (coming soon) is one capsule with 12 mg of vitamin E as mixed tocopherols, among the daily bottles. The same 12 mg is in the Vitamins Pack, Daily Multi also has 12 mg and Daily Omega adds 5 mg of natural vitamin E, so even all of them together stay far below the NHS 540 mg. Vitamin E contributes to the protection of cells from oxidative stress. If you take an anticoagulant or daily aspirin, check with your GP first; the Vitamins Pack also contains vitamin K2.