Vitamin E(lusive)

I routinely keep track of my daily diet using Fitday.com which gives all sorts of information about calorie intake, carbs, fats, protein, and vitamins and minerals. (my only complaint is that it gives you the average for the week for most reports so to find out the numbers for a single day, you just have to have that be the only day for which you enter data for that week)
For the most part, I'm pleased with the nutritional content of my diet. I think I've done a good job of combining carbohydrates, fats, and protein and I still feel like I'm eating enough food. But, I have been curious to know about the vitamin and mineral breakdown as well. I know that the amount of kale I eat is giving me enough in the way of Vitamin A and C and I am outside enough not to have to worry about D. But I'm never really sure where I stand with some of the others.

What I keep finding is that I'm lacking Vitamin E. For the most part, I seem to hover around 39% of the daily recommended amount. In truth, I have to say that I sometimes wonder if it really natters. I mean, if I'm lacking it with my healthy diet now, I must not have been getting any before!

When the USDA devised it's Thrifty Food Plan basket, one of the constraints it noted was that it was impossible to create a thrifty plan that included enough Vitamin E. In fact, they relaxed the standard for the basket so that they were meeting about 63% of the RDA.

The Ohio State University Extensionhas a nice fact sheet on Vitamin E which tells us that:

"Vitamin E, a fat-soluble vitamin, is an antioxidant vitamin involved in the metabolism of all cells. It protects vitamin A and essential fatty acids from oxidation in the body cells and prevents breakdown of body tissues."

I guess it's a good thing I get a lot of A since I have no E to protect it.

According to eMedicine from WebMD:

Vitamin E, one of the most important lipid-soluble antioxidant nutrients, is found in nut oils, sunflower seeds, whole grains, wheat germ, and spinach. Severe deficiency, as may occur in persons with abetalipoproteinemia or fat malabsorption, profoundly affects the central nervous system and can cause ataxia and a peripheral neuropathy resembling Friedreich ataxia.

Patients receiving large doses of vitamin E may experience a halt in the progression of the disease.

This vitamin is thought to have a role in preventing atherosclerosis by inhibiting the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL). Several epidemiologic studies have indicated that high dietary intake of vitamin E is associated with high serum concentrations of alpha tocopherol, as well as with lower rates of ischemic heart disease. However, although the Cambridge Heart Antioxidant Study supported this hypothesis, a subsequent report, the prospective Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation Study, did not.

In general, when studies contradict each other, I'm of the opinion that following the one that suggests that I can lower my chances for a diseases is the better idea.

For and adult woman, the recommendation is 15mg per day. So I decided that I needed to find out where I'm going to get that much and how I'm going to fit it into my diet.

Some foods with good Vitamin E content include:

Food	Milligrams (mg) per serving	Percent DV*
Wheat germ oil, 1 tablespoon	20.3	100
Almonds, dry roasted, 1 ounce	7.4	40
Sunflower seeds, dry roasted, 1 ounce	6.0	30
Sunflower oil, 1 tablespoon	5.6	28
Safflower oil, 1 tablespoon	4.6	25
Hazelnuts, dry roasted, 1 ounce	4.3	22
Peanut butter, 2 tablespoons	2.9	15
Peanuts, dry roasted, 1 ounce	2.2	11
Corn oil, 1 tablespoon	1.9	10
Spinach, boiled, ½ cup	1.9	10
Broccoli, chopped, boiled, ½ cup	1.2	6
Soybean oil, 1 tablespoon	1.1	6
Kiwi, 1 medium	1.1	6
Mango, sliced, ½ cup	0.9	5
Spinach, raw, 1 cup	0.6	4

Table from the Office of Dietary Supplements Vitamin E fact sheet

Actually, this is pretty good news for me. I love almonds but they aren't cheap so I probably won't be having them all that often. But, I see that I can easily switch out some of the olive oil I generally use for safflower or sunflower oil and add sunflowers to salads and other dishes. Those are quite inexpensive ways to get a lot more E in my diet.

Ha, for once, the cheaper choice (safflower oil) is going to give me more of something I need than the more expensive olive oil.

Now, I realize that Olive oil has a bazilion other benefits so I'm not going to leave it out completely but I think this shows that it's worth it to switch my oils around sometimes. I can also make sure that I use a good quality margarine that will also provide some Vitamin E.

Happily, it turns out that it isn't as Elusive as I thought!