Vitamin E.

Carola Felchner is a freelance writer in the medical department and a certified training and nutrition advisor. She worked for various specialist magazines and online portals before becoming a freelance journalist in 2015. Before starting her internship, she studied translation and interpreting in Kempten and Munich.

More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.

The term vitamin E stands for a group of similar compounds, the so-called tocopherols. They have an antioxidant effect, which means: They defuse aggressive oxygen compounds (free radicals) before they can cause cell damage. Find out here how much vitamin E you need and which foods contain it.

What is Vitamin E

Like vitamins A, D and K, vitamin E is one of the fat-soluble vitamins. These can only be used in the context of fat metabolism, which means: The body can only absorb fat-soluble vitamins from food together with some fat.

There are different forms of vitamin E, which experts summarize under the term tocopherols. The best-known representative of vitamin E is alpha-tocopherol.

What are the tasks of vitamin E in the body?

Vitamin E has an antioxidant effect. It defuses "free radicals". These are aggressive oxygen compounds that arise in the course of normal metabolic reactions in the body, but also through UV radiation and cigarette smoke, and can damage cells. This makes vitamin E an important cell protection vitamin.

In addition, vitamin E can reduce inflammatory reactions and prevent calcification of the arteries (arteriosclerosis).

Furthermore, vitamin E protects memory and - in the right combination of its forms - influences memory. A vitamin E derivative should also be able to eliminate cancer cells without affecting healthy cells.

But the positive effect can also be reversed: In test subjects with low selenium levels, regular intake of vitamin E pills increased the risk of developing prostate cancer.

Vitamin E: skin and food protectors

Since vitamin E is fat-soluble, it can easily penetrate the cornea in large quantities and be stored there. A high vitamin E content in the skin has many advantages: It smoothes wrinkles, increases the skin's resistance, protects against UV rays, improves wound healing and inhibits inflammation. That is why many cosmetic manufacturers swear by the addition of tocopherols (vitamin E) in the production of skin and sun creams.

The vitamin does not only have an effect on or in the skin, but also in the cosmetic products themselves: It protects the ingredients from spoilage through contact with oxygen. For the same reason, vitamin E is also added to foods, such as edible fats and oils, shortening fats and oils, dressings, desserts and chewing gum. It is marked with the E numbers E 306 to 309 in the list of ingredients.

What is the daily requirement for vitamin E?

How much vitamin E someone needs depends on age and gender. But there are many other factors that influence the daily requirement for vitamin E. These include pregnancy, breastfeeding, environmental or psychological stress and illnesses.

According to the recommendation of the German Nutrition Society (DGE), you should consume this much vitamin E:

age	Tocopherol mg / day
age	masculine	Female
0 to under 4 months	3	3
4 to less than 12 months	4	4
1 to under 4 years	6	5
4 to under 7 years	8	8
7 to under 10 years	10	9
10 to under 13 years	13	11
13 to under 15 years	14	12
15 to under 19 years	15	12
19 to under 25 years	15	12
25 to under 51 years	14	12
51 to under 65 years	13	12
65 years and older	12	11
Pregnant women		13
Breastfeeding		17

Vitamin E - foods with a high content

Read more about foods rich in vitamin E in the article Foods high in vitamin E.

How does a vitamin E deficiency manifest itself?

You can read about how a vitamin E deficiency can arise and what its consequences are in the article Vitamin E deficiency.

How does a vitamin E excess manifest itself?

Overdosing on vitamin E through food is practically impossible. Such large amounts cannot be ingested through food.

However, if you take vitamin E supplements (e.g. tablets) over a longer period of time, side effects such as gastrointestinal problems (diarrhea, nausea) can occur. In addition, vitamin E in combination with anticoagulant medication or in the event of a severe overdose can increase the risk of bleeding. In addition, previous studies suggest that high vitamin E intake could reduce life expectancy.

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