Vitamin E still can't cure your broken heart
Vitamin E still can't cure your broken heartBy
David LeonhardtVitamin E is an absolutely vital
nutrient in your body, but itprobably can't do
half the things you heard it can.What does vitamin
E do? To begin, it is an antioxidant. Ittames
dangerous free radicals and helps prevent blood
clots andblockages in coronary arteries. Research
points to its abilityto reduce the risk of chronic
diseases, such as heart attacks andsome cancers.Vitamin
E is also believed to slow the aging process and
to helpnerve conduction. Most importantly, it
works to enhance and evenprotect vitamin C and
Vitamin A.
There is also promising research that vitamin
E might helpprevent or slow the onset of cataracts
in the eyes.Vitamin E has been touted as a cure
for just about everything buta broken heart. I
am sure that's coming, though. Here are justa
few of the diseases and conditions vitamin E has
been creditedwith curing or preventing:Parkinson's
diseaseInfertility in both men and womenAlzheimer's
diseaseHepatitiseye tissue inflammationfibromylagiahair
lossPMS (pre-menstrual syndrome)heavy menstruationhealing
woundsdiabetesatherosclerosismenopauseosteoarthritiseven
restless leg syndrome!
It might well prove that
vitamin is helpful in some of these andother conditions,
but probably not in many or even most of them.As
with many vitamins, there is a raging debate over
how muchvitamin E you need. The US recommended
daily allowance (RDA) is8-10 milligrams per day.
But most people in the nutrition fieldbelieve
that to capture the long-term benefits, people
need 10 to20 times that quantity, which is well
short of the maximumrecommended 1,000 milligrams.Vitamin
E is found in many foods in small quantities.
The goodnews is that almost everyone gets sufficient
vitamin E to avoid adeficiency, with a few exceptions
noted below. The bad news isthat most people do
not get the RDA. This is definitely avitamin that
should be supplemented.Be careful about what supplements
you choose, since the syntheticversion of vitamin
E is not even half effective as in its naturalform.
Look for nutritional supplements containing naturalvitamin
E, preferably in liquid form.People on low fat
diets need supplements the most, since fats andoils
are the largest sources of vitamin E. Nuts and
green, leafyvegetables are also good sources,
as are egg yolks and liver. Soare whole grains.Vitamin
E probably will never cure your broken heart,
nor live upto half of the claims people make about
it. But it is animportant vitamin for maintaining
good health and it is needed inquantities above
what most people take in their diet.
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