Something quite refreshing is going on in cancer research that may radically change this often times terminal disease. It involves a form of Vitamin E called gamma tocopherol. But before we get into this important study, I want to give you a little background on Vitamin E.
Lots Of Free Radical Production Going On Here!
The Vitamin E family has so many members it sounds like a fraternity party. They are all antioxidants protecting the body against oxidation. Oxidation may lead to an abnormal cells that sometimes progresses into a cancer.
Renovating Your Mind wants to introduce you to the tocopherols and the tocotrienols. They are the two groupings of vitamin E which totals 8 party members.
They include:
1. (α) Alpha tocopherol
2. (α) Alpha tocotrienol
3. (β) Beta tocopherol
4. (β) Beta toptrienol
5. (δ) Delta tocopherol
6. (δ) Delta tocotrienol
7. (γ) Gamma tocopherol
8. (γ) Gamma tocotrienol
Supplements That Come In Opaque Glass-High Class
The natural form of Vitamin E in food is -d form.
Watch Your Letters! What Does DL- Stand For?
The synthetic form of Vitamin E in some supplements is called the dl- form. This type of Vitamin E only allows 50% of the amount listed to be absorbed by the body.
Vitamin manufacturers produce both natural and synthetic versions of Vitamin E. When you see vitamin E labeled as dl-, it is significantly less expensive but it’s synthetic. We can only absorb 50% of the dl- form (synthetic) for the same reason you can’t put a right glove on your left hand. The absorption sites in our body are able to tell synthetic from natural by the same principle as a wrong glove wrong hand situation. The active sites in our body can only absorb Vitamin E with the d- formulation. So in the case of dl-, we can absorb the d- part but not the l- portion.
Vitamin E was discovered in the 1920’s where sterility in animals was created by inducing a deficiency. That is the reason for the vitamin being used to increase sexual prowess. So the sex thing is a big myth but it created a great market for selling Vitamin E supplements.
Vitamin E serves its primary purpose in the body by acting as an antioxidant. It resides in every one of your cells preventing an unstable environment by quenching the destructive nature of free radicals. Free radicals such as toxic substances in the air, food and water which are things we can’t see that may harm us. Others that we are consciously aware of like unhealthy fats, cigarette smoke, alcohol, medications and the sun where most of us acknowledge a risk especially over many decades of lifelong abuse. So with sufficient nuts, seeds, wheat germ and oils the body gets a plentiful bounty of the entire Vitamin E family.
Type Used In Most Previous Research Studies
So with all this protection afforded by Vitamin E it should play a factor in treating diseases caused by free radical production, right? In the 1990’s study results in various medical journals showed a protection that Vitamin E’s afforded against heart disease. Eventually, alternate research published showed the opposite effect with heart patients treated with Vitamin E getting much worse on the vitamin. All these studies were done with supplemental Vitamin E. Most studies were using alpha tocopherol as an inaccurate representation of Vitamin E therapy. Alpha tocopherol, used alone in supplemental form, may negatively alter the levels of naturally occurring Vitamin E. In addition, the alpha tocopherol form of Vitamin E will often become a pro-oxidant and increase oxidation. That is what researchers were supposedly looking to prevent in these studies.
For the last 10 years, Vitamin E’s popularity has waned in the supplement aisle. That may change with current research being done by Ohio University in coordination with NIH (National Institute of Health). It all starts out with AKT. This protein is responsible for keeping abnormal cells alive in our body. You see the body senses there is a problem with a cell and destroys it. This process prevents the initiation of a runaway effect that leads to cancer. AKT stops the body from destroying the cell therefore allows the cancer pathway to proceed unabated. What researchers have done is taken one component of Vitamin E called gamma tocopherol and altered it to increase its potency. Vitamin E becomes a fat-soluble matchmaker bringing together AKT with PHLPP1 (tumor suppressor) in the cell. PHLPP1 inactivated AKT and the pre-cancer cell is killed. This scenario plays a role in many types of cancers.
The current study appeared in the March 2013 publication called Science Signaling. The research focused on cancer of the prostate. Altered gamma tocopherol significantly suppressed tumor growth successful in rats. Humans follow the same pathway as rats.
Even though this was an animal study the importance is in the details of the study. First, the researchers looked at various forms of Vitamin E to figure out what had the strongest effect in inhibiting this cancerous pathway. That led them to gamma tocopherol which they encouraged a better fit by altering the vitamin. It made it stronger so it could work more efficiently in this process. Aside from shrinking the tumor, they found that this vitamin form was non-toxic in high doses.
Included In Your Diet?
This study also shows the importance of sufficient ingestion of dietary Vitamin E for prevention of disease. Specific foods with the highest Vitamin E content are wheat germ, almonds, hazelnuts, most other nuts, peanuts, sunflower seeds and cooking oils.
Golden Yellow Capsules Of Viscous Liquid
If you are looking to purchase a Vitamin E capsule seek out mixed variety (all types) at the lowest possible mg or IU dose that’s packaged in glass or at least an opaque container. Check for an expiration date because the vitamin will degrade over time and go rancid. Again, I prefer food sources of Vitamin E as a safer, less expensive and with proven preventative effects.
Renovating Your Mind 