Marianna Schwarzová

By Marianna Schwarzova, Katarina Fatrcova-Sramkova, Eva Tvrda and Miroslava Kacaniova

Data of vitamin E intake and status are controversial. Vitamin E is an essential micronutrient for humans and achieving an optimal status is assumed to produce beneficial health outcomes. Dietary intake recommendations for vitamin E vary considerably by different countries and organizations. It appears to be still a challenge to define these despite the wealth of data published. Vitamin E requirements have been proposed to depend on other nutritional factors, such as the intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). Although several foods contain naturally occurring sources of vitamin E, it is frequently the case that the intake recommendations are not achieved. Several other dietary factors affect the need for vitamin E. In this regard, significant challenges to be considered include the efficiency of other tocopherol variants and their properties that could affect the revision of the nutritional recommendations for vitamin E. Particularly, an ever-increasing evidence indicates that other vitamin E homologs may potentially present with a higher biological activity. Low dietary consumption of vitamin E, coupled with compelling evidence that increased intake of vitamin E above current recommendations for the general population may benefit older individuals.

Part of the book: Vitamin E in Health and Disease