Vitamin E

Summary

Vitamins are substances that your body needs to grow and develop normally. Vitamin E is an antioxidant. It plays a role in your immune system and metabolic processes.

Good sources of vitamin E include:

• Vegetable oils
• Margarine
• Nuts and seeds
• Leafy greens

Vitamin E is also added to foods like cereals. Most people get enough vitamin E from the foods they eat. People with certain disorders, such as liver diseases, cystic fibrosis, and Crohn's disease may need extra vitamin E.

Vitamin E supplements may be harmful for people who take blood thinners and other medicines. Check with your health care provider before taking the supplements.

NIH: National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements

Learn More

• Find a Nutrition Expert (Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics)
• Vitamin E (National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements) Also in Spanish
• Vitamin E (Harvard School of Public Health)
• Vitamin E (Tocopherol) Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Vitamin E (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Enjoy Carefully: The Multifaceted Role of Vitamin E in Neuro-Nutrition.
• Article: δ-Tocotrienol sensitizes and re-sensitizes ovarian cancer cells to cisplatin via induction...
• Article: Biochemical and Clinical Effects of Vitamin E Supplementation in Hungarian Smith-Lemli-Opitz...
• Vitamin E -- see more articles

Patient Handouts

• Vitamin E (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish