Vitamin E is important because it helps protect your cells from oxidative stress. It also helps boost your immune system, reduces blood clot risk, lowers your risk of cancer, helps your eyes and brightens your skin.
If you don’t get enough Vitamin E, you may become prone to infections and/or develop muscle weakness or impaired eyesight.
Fortunately, Vitamin E is in a lot of foods, so most people don’t have to worry about getting enough of it. The only time you should worry about getting enough Vitamin E – and probably other nutrients – is if you have an absorption problem, or your nutrient absorption has become impaired.
It is also possible to OD on Vitamin E because unlike other vitamins, excess Vitamin E doesn’t come out when you pee. Vitamin E is what’s called a fat soluble vitamin, which means it’s stored in your tissues and livers, which includes the excess. And I don’t think I need to tell you how bad hyper consumption is when it comes to your body.
Unfortunately, in my research, the only ‘side effect’ to having excess Vitamin E that I found was bleeding in the brain. And while I don’t think I need to tell you why that’s bad, I was sort of hoping I’d be able to find a less panic-inducing symptom to include, just in case any of you readers are like me and tend to over-stress about certain things.
Luckily though, all you have to do to avoid getting too much Vitamin E is make sure you consume less than 1,000mg worth of supplements. Why just supplements? Because apparently it’s extremely rare (the articles literally used the phrase almost impossible) to OD on Vitamin E from just eating it in food. So, relax! Unless you’re downing supplements like Tic-Tacs, you’re most likely fine.
Most adults (including pregnant women! [This isn’t an exciting fact, just something I’ve noticed in my nutrient collage series]) only need 15mg per day. Which is way under 1,000mg, so again, try not to worry.
Starting in the top left-hand corner, moving clockwise:
- Wheat Germ Oil 149mg
- Hazelnut Oil 47mg
- Sunflower Oil 41mg
- Almond Oil 39mg
- Cottonseed Oil 35mg
- Sunflower Seeds 35mg
- Safflower Oil 34mg
- Grapeseed Oil 29mg
- Almonds 26mg
- Canola Oil 18mg
- Palm Oil 16mg
- Hazelnuts 15mg
- Pine Nuts 9.3mg
- Peanuts 8.3mg
- Brazil Nuts 5.7mg
- Olives 3.8mg
- Turnip Greens 2.9mg
- Pistachios 2.9mg
- Collard Greens 2.3mg
- Pumpkin Seeds 2.2mg
- Avocado 2.1mg
- Cranberries 2.1mg
- Spinach 2mg
- Swiss Chard 1.9mg
- Mustard Greens 1.8mg
- Red Bell Pepper 1.6mg
- Kiwi 1.5mg
- Broccoli 1.5mg
- Asparagus 1.5mg
Like this article? Check out more Nutrient Collages!