Vitamin E Explained: What It Is And Where It Occurs In Foods

Vitamin E is a family, not a single molecule

When people say vitamin E, they are usually using a shorthand for a group of eight related compounds. Four are called tocopherols and four are called tocotrienols, and each of those four is labeled alpha, beta, gamma or delta. The one most often discussed in nutrition tables and on labels is alpha-tocopherol.

Vitamin E is oil-soluble, meaning it dissolves in oils rather than in water. That single trait explains much of where it is found in food: it travels with the oils of seeds, nuts and plants, and so the richest foods tend to be those that are rich in plant oils.

The vitamin was first identified in the early 1920s in research on vegetable oils and wheat germ, which already hints at where it is found. The name tocopherol comes from Greek words that combine the idea of offspring with the verb to bear, and the ending ol marks the compound as an alcohol in chemical terms.

Where vitamin E occurs in foods

Most people meet vitamin E through everyday cooking ingredients rather than through anything exotic. Plant oils, nuts and seeds are the headline sources, and several leafy vegetables and fruits contribute smaller amounts.

Foods commonly listed as containing vitamin E include:

Wheat germ oil is often described as the highest in vitamin E of all common cooking oils, with sunflower and safflower oils close behind. A tablespoon-sized portion of those oils appears frequently in food composition tables, which makes them handy reference points when you compare foods.

Fortified foods are another place the vitamin shows up. A breakfast cereal or a plant-based drink may list vitamin E on its nutrition panel because the maker added it, and the ingredient list will then name the form used, often as tocopheryl acetate or mixed tocopherols.

• Sunflower seeds and sunflower oil
• Almonds, hazelnuts and peanuts
• Wheat germ and wheat germ oil
• Safflower, canola and olive oils
• Spinach, Swiss chard and other leafy greens
• Avocado, mango and kiwifruit
• Fortified breakfast cereals

Different foods, different forms

The forms of vitamin E vary by food. Sunflower and almond foods are mostly alpha-tocopherol. Soybean and corn oils lean toward gamma-tocopherol. Palm and rice bran oils are among the few notable sources of tocotrienols.

This is one reason published tables differ and why a single label line cannot describe every form in a diet. Eating a mix of nuts, seeds and plants naturally brings a mix of forms, with no need to track them.

Natural and synthetic forms

Vitamin E used in supplements and fortified foods falls into two groups. The natural form is extracted from vegetable oils and is written d-alpha-tocopherol. The synthetic form is made in a laboratory and is written dl-alpha-tocopherol. The d and dl prefixes refer to the molecular shape: the natural form has one shape, while the synthetic form is a mixture of eight shapes.

Chemists use these prefixes to describe structure. They are simply the label's way of telling you which version of the compound the maker used.

Esters and mixed tocopherols

Alpha-tocopherol itself is quite sensitive to air, so makers often use a more stable version called an ester, where a small chemical group is attached. The most common are tocopheryl acetate and tocopheryl succinate. They appear on labels as d-alpha-tocopheryl acetate or dl-alpha-tocopheryl acetate.

A label might also show mixed tocopherols, which means a blend of the alpha, beta, gamma and delta forms. Mixed tocopherols are also used in packaged foods to protect oils from going stale, in which case they are listed as an ingredient rather than as a nutrient.

Because the esters are more stable, they are the usual choice for ingredients that must sit in a product for months. The ester group is removed during digestion, so the label lists the ester name for accuracy while the amount is converted to the alpha-tocopherol equivalent.

Reading the vitamin E line on a panel

Older labels reported vitamin E in international units, or IU. Current labels in the United States use milligrams, written as mg alpha-tocopherol, sometimes shortened to mg AT. The conversion between old and new units depends on whether the form is natural or synthetic, so the two systems do not match in a simple one-to-one way.

When you read a vitamin E line, these quick checks help:

The change from IU to milligrams happened with the 2016 label update in the United States. Products made before that date, and some imported ones, may still show the older unit, so a bottle can look different from one on the next shelf even when it contains the same vitamin.

• Identify the form: d-alpha, dl-alpha, acetate or mixed.
• Confirm the unit, which should be milligrams on current labels.
• Look at the percent daily value to compare similar products.
• Check the serving size to know what the numbers refer to.

Vitamin E on the LumiVelle label

Vitamin E is among the named ingredients in LumiVelle, a daily gummy dietary supplement. The same label names Korean gelatin, PDRN, resveratrol, vitamin C and several other vitamins and minerals. Each bottle holds 30 gummies, and the suggested use is one gummy daily, preferably with a meal, or as the label directs.

To find the form and amount of vitamin E, use the Supplement Facts panel printed on the bottle. It is the official reference for what the product contains.