Yesterday’s 5 mile run was nuts. On the way back I was battling unbelievable wind gusts. Come to find out, there was a High Wind Advisory in effect for most of West Michigan! I figure that carving my way through the wind was a great workout that will help me prepare to run 26.2 miles. After the stats please find info on the fat soluble antioxidant Vitamin E.
Yesterday’s Stats:
Temperature: 58
Distance: 5 miles
Time: 45:02
Pace: Target 08:58
Pace: Actual 09:02
Running Goal: Easy run (which wasn’t so easy)
15 minute post workout pulse: 88
Calories expanded: 810
Why Antioxidant Vitamin E? (Packer, 1999)
• keeps skin youthful by protecting it from UV radiation and ozone
• relieves symptoms of arthritis and inflammatory diseases
• reduces the risk of prostate cancer, can inhibit growth of breast cancer cells
• in concert with Co Q10 can prevent lipid per-oxidation in the brain, thus may play a role in the prevention of Alzheimerʼs
Functions of Antioxidant Vitamin E: (Gropper S., Smith J., Groff J. 2009)
Vitamin E is responsible for a healthy cell membrane, probably also responsible for the stability of the cell membrane, in the body's many cells.
How Does The Antioxidant Vitamin E Work? (Gropper S., Smith J., Groff J. 2009)
It is thought that Vitamin E protects the cells by preventing the oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids. To remind you, the business of living and using oxygen for every activity, leaves us wide open to damage done by free radicals. Training and running a marathon is no different. In order to protect from free radicals proper nutrition is essential.
Vitamin E terminates free radicals by donating hydrogen ions to the free radical, thus rendering it less dangerous. Vitamin E also has the capability to quench Singlet Molecular Oxygen. 1O2 (singlet oxygen) readily reacts with protein, lipids, and DNA causing cellular damage, unless removed. The form of Vitamin E that does the best job at that this is thought to be alpha-tocopherol.
Since Vitamin E is composed of tocotrienols and tocopherols with each class having four vitamers, which in turn all display different stereoisomers, it gets a little bit complicated. The important thing is that they all work in concert with each other. That is all you need to take away from this. I’ll explain why in the supplement paragraph.
Good Sources: (Gropper S., Smith J., Groff J. 2009)
Oils from plants are the best sources of Vitamin E. These include
- Wheat germ, 192mg/100g
- Corn, 21mg/100g
- Cottonseed, 38 mg/100g
- Peanut, 13mg/100g
- Safflower, 43mg/100g
- Soybean, 18mg/100g
- Sunflower, 51mg/100g
Supplements:
According to Packer (1999), who is a world renown Vitamin E expert, supplements should include natural alpha tocopherol, mixed tocopherols, and tocotrienols. Natural alpha tocopherol is quite different from synthetic alpha tocopherol. He states further that natural tocopherol is labeled “d-alpha tocopherol” whereas synthetic tocopherol is labeled “dl-alpha tocopherol.”
What is the DRI Antioxidant Vitamin E? (Gropper S., Smith J., Groff J. 2009) (DRI=Dietary Reference Intake)
- Males and Females: 11-15mg/dayPregnancy: 15mg/day
- Lactation: 19mg/day
How Much Antioxidant Vitamin E is Too Much? (Gropper S., Smith J., Groff J. 2009)
(Upper Tolerable Intake Level=UL)
- Children: 200-600 mg/day
- Males and Females: 800-1000 mg/day
- Pregnancy: 800-1000 mg/day
- Lactation: 800-1000 mg/day
The UL has been established by the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine because there exists the possibility of impaired blood clotting with too much intake of vitamin E. There are however no good long term studies that verify that fact.
Other Precautions: (Higdon, 2004)
Vitamin E: might also interfere with blood thinners.
Beste Gesundheit,
Werner
References:
Gropper S., Smith J., Groff J. (2009). Advanced Nutrition and human metabolism. (5th ed.). Belmont, California: Wadsworth Cengage Learning
Higdon J. (2004). Vitamin E. Retrieved from
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/vitaminE/
Packer L., Colman C. (1999). The antioxidant miracle: Put Lipoic Acid, Co Q10,
Pycnogenol, and vitamins E and C to work for you. New York: John Wiley & Sons