Over the next few weeks we will be discussing Vitamins and Minerals.  We will be discussing one vitamin or mineral at a time discussing what it is, what it does and factors that affect absorption. We will also be giving you a general list of food items that contain the vitamin or mineral that we will be discussing for that week.

As a review, lets first discuss the difference between a vitamin and mineral.  A vitamin is any compound that contains carbon and therefore is organic.  There are two classes of vitamins…fat soluble A, D, E and K or water soluble, the B vitamins and C.

Minerals on the other hand do not contain carbon and are what we call inorganic.  There are macro- minerals and micro-minerals.  Macro-minerals are calcium, chloride, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and sodium.  Micro-minerals are:  chromium, iron, copper, zinc, iodine, manganese, molybdenum, selenium and iron.

There are many factors that can decrease the absorption of vitamins and minerals.  These include: alcohol, caffeine, antibiotics, stress, corticosteroids, aspirin, diuretics, oral contraceptives, sugar and tobacco.  Therefore if you lifestyle includes any of these factors and you are not well there could be a good chance that you are not absorbing your essential nutrients.  You will learn over the next few weeks the critical affect that each of the vitamins and mineral have over the health of your body.

This week we will be discussing Vitamin E

What it is:  Vitamin E is a fat soluble vitamin, meaning that Vitamin E is found in the fat tissue of plants and animals. This vitamin is a complex of eight different chemicals. Four are called tocopherols (alpha, beta, gamma and delta) and the other four are called tocotrienols (alpha, beta, gamma and delta).

Vitamin E :What it does

• Is an antioxidant for lipids/fats
• It has anti-clotting or blood thinning effects
• It helps keep platelets from clumping together in blood vessels
• It protects the skin for UV exposure
• Anti-inflammatory
• Increases effectiveness of white blood cells and increases resistance to disease
• Has a protective role for vitamin A in the body

It’s important to have some healthy dietary fat intake when taking vitamin E to allow the body to absorb and utilize this Vitamin. Circumstances that reduce the Vitamin E content in food include cooking, storing, freezing, exposure to air and processing.

Foods That Contain Vitamin E:

There are many foods (too many to list) that contain Vitamin E.  Vitamin E comes primarily from nuts and seeds as well as some vegetables.  Here are a few of the more common sources of Vitamin E.

• Wheat Germ Oil
• Sunflower Seeds
• Hazelnut Oil
• Spinach
• Almonds
• Dandelion Greens
• Red Peppers
• Swiss Chard
• Asparagus
• Blackberries
• Hazelnuts/Filbert
• Kiwi
• Broccoli

We hope this information has been helpful and you reap the benefits when adding vitamin E rich foods to your diet. If you have more specific questions or concerns please feel free to call us and set up a consultation either in person or over the phone.

Dorothy Lizak

Nutrition & Wellness Specialist

Resource:  The power of nutrient dense food by Pattie Weller, C.C.N

Photo thank you to: http://www.sott.net/image/image/s1/21896/full/almonds_794733.jpg

Tags: healthy eating, nutrition los gatos, san francisco nutrition coaching, vitamin e benefits

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 10th, 2010 at 5:29 pm and is filed under Digestive Health, Nutrition Tips, Uncategorized, vitamins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.