What are the dietary sources of vitamin E?
Spinach, almonds, and other nuts are good dietary sources. Vegetable oils really are the major sources, especially olive oil and sunflower oil. Q: What form of vitamin E predominates in these food sources? A: Those foods contain primarily alpha-tocopherol. Other oils, like corn oil or soybean oil, contain mostly gamma-tocopherol. Q: Have there been many studies with gamma-tocopherol? A: We are currently studying gamma-tocopherol. We found that the body works hard to excrete it, while alpha-tocopherol is retained. Some studies in rats have found that gamma-tocopherol inhibits platelet aggregation, but it isn’t clear if this is related to an antioxidant function or something else. Q: Do you think that transfer proteins for other forms of vitamin E might be discovered? A: Dr. Angelo Azzi’s group is working very hard to find tocopherol transfer proteins. They found a protein that is in virtually every cell in the body, which really excited the vitamin E community. We thought that a protein
