Key role in brain health for vitamin E

Western consumers are deficient in vitamin E, which has a proven biological function and is a powerful antioxidant, according to professor Manfred Eggersdorfer, senior vice president of nutrition, science and advocacy at the biggest supplier of vitamin E, DSM.

Worry ​

Eggersdorfer, who spoke at the satellite symposium on vitamin E at the third World Congress of Public Health Nutrition in November, also said that more than 90% of the US’s population did not meet their recommended daily allowance of vitamin E, which was a worry.

Consumers were expected to take in enough vitamin E through their diets, but “they are characterised by an increasing intake of processed foods”​, said Lisa Wood, associate professor at the Centre for Asthma and Respiratory Diseases at Australia’s University of Newcastle.

“This results in a nutrient profile that is low in beneficial nutrients, such as antioxidants.”​

Clinical studies had suggested that vitamin E supplementation could lower fatty liver diseases, DSM claimed.

Disease​

“The results of several clinical studies suggest that the use of vitamin E is associated with a number of benefits in patients with non-alcoholic liver disease,”​ it added. The benefits included a reduction in aminotransferases and a reduction in fatty denegration and inflammation.

Other studies also linked the importance of vitamin E to “proper neuronal functions”,​ said DSM. It may protect essential fatty acids in the brain from lipid peroxidation, which protected cognitive function.

Meanwhile, see the January 2015 issue of Food Ingredients, Health & Nutrition ​by subscribing to Food Manufacture ​​to read more about the effects of vitamin E on brain health.