Palm fruit oil is the richest source of tocotrienols, the other half of the vitamin E equation

(NaturalNews) Many people are already aware of the fact that vitamin E helps to rid the body of free radicals and protect it from cancer, cardiovascular disease, heart disease and other serious illness. However there are two forms of vitamin E that each serve a unique purpose: tocopherols and tocotrienols. While tocopherols are the most common form of vitamin E available on the market, tocotrienols are just now beginning to emerge in the Western world as a superior addition to the vitamin E family, particularly in the form of palm fruit oil where they are most richly found.

Most available vitamin E supplements contain only mixed tocopherols, or alpha, beta, delta and gamma tocopherols. These four tocopherols represent only half of the vitamin E family, and research is now revealing that alpha, beta, delta and gamma tocotrienols are also necessary to provide the full range of antioxidant power contained in vitamin E. Together, these eight compounds offer complete antioxidant protection.

Tocotrienols are roughly 50 times more potent than tocopherols when it comes to antioxidant power. Recent studies have shown that tocotrienols distribute themselves more evenly than tocopherols do in the fatty layers of cell membranes. They are effective at preventing and treating serious degenerative diseases like cancer, stroke-induced injuries, diabetes, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. In one study, tocotrienols increased the lifespan of laboratory rats by 20 percent.

So why are tocopherols, rather than tocotrienols, the most prevalent form of vitamin E on the market? Many foods and oils are rich in tocopherols, but few contain significant levels of tocotrienols. In fact, most of the popular oils used in food preparation – olive, soybean, safflower, sunflower, corn, cotton and peanut – contain only tocopherols. The only oil that contains significant levels of all four types of tocotrienols is palm fruit oil.

Although tocopherols are generally sufficient for meeting minimum vitamin E levels and maintaining an average level of good health, there is far more to be gained from getting the full range of both tocopherols and tocotrienols. Rice bran oil, wheat germ, barley, oats, coconut oil and palm kernel oil all contain one or more types of tocotrienols as well, however none besides palm fruit oil contain all four types.

Palm fruit oil is composed of 30 percent tocopherols and 70 percent tocotrienols. The oil is extracted from the fleshy mesocarp of the palm fruit, and is useful in a myriad of food preparations. It is said to be the most widely used oil in the world, perhaps because it is more heat stable than other vegetable oils and provides superior taste and texture qualities.

Aside from preventing and treating the serious illnesses mentioned above, palm oil improves blood circulation and prevents clotting, boosts immunity, improves general nutrient absorption, supports healthy lung and liver function, strengthens bones and teeth, reinforces eye health and supports brain function. Studies have shown that virgin red palm oil is the variety that offers the most medicinal benefit, but all varieties seem to be beneficial.

To learn more about tocotrienols, please visit www.tocotrienol.org.

Vitamin E is effective treatment for "silent" liver disease

(NaturalNews) Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a common, "silent" liver disease. Although it occurs in people who drink little or no alcohol, it causes damage that resembles alcoholic liver disease, including inflammation. According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), the condition is marked by fat in the liver and is associated with the growing number of overweight Americans. In all, about 2 to 5 percent of people in the US have NASH. And while many feel fine and aren't aware they have a liver problem, they actually have a disease that can eventually cause cirrhosis, liver cancer, and death.

There's been no effective treatment for NASH -- until now. Results from a new multi-center study organized by the Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis Clinical Research Network of NIDDK show vitamin E is a successful treatment for the disease. The findings of this largest ever placebo-controlled randomized trial of NASH therapies were just published in the April 28 online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

"There is an increasing prevalence of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in this country, something that is directly related to the obesity epidemic," Dr. Joel Lavine, faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and chief of gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition at New York-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, said in a statement to the press. "The good news is that this study showed that cheap and readily available vitamin E can help many of those with the condition."

Dr. Lavine, who was a leader of the research team, pointed out that the drug pioglitazone was also studied alongside daily doses of 800 IU of vitamin E. Although the medication showed some benefits, they were minimal compared to the dramatic effectiveness of vitamin E.

For the Pioglitazone or Vitamin E for NASH Study (PIVENS), the researchers randomly assigned 247 non-diabetic adults with biopsy-confirmed NASH to three groups receiving either vitamin E, pioglitazone (a drug that improves the sensitivity of cells to insulin) or a placebo. After 96 weeks of treatment, liver enzyme tests, which are commonly used to measure liver injury, improved in those who received either pioglitazone or vitamin E.

Unlike vitamin E, however, pioglitazone treatment had an unwelcome side effect -- it caused an average weight gain of 10 pounds over the duration of this study. What's more, although pioglitazone improved many features of NASH, it fell short of statistical significance. However, except for the amount of scar tissue in the liver, vitamin E improved all features of NASH and clearly emerged as effective, natural therapy for this potentially fatal liver disease.

For more information:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...

Natural form of vitamin E protects the brain after stroke

(NaturalNews) A stroke occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is suddenly blocked by a blood clot or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts, driving blood into the spaces surrounding brain cells, or neurons. The result can be brain damage that leaves stroke survivors with disabilities ranging from one-sided paralysis or weakness to problems with thinking, attention, memory and learning. But new research by Ohio State University scientists set for publication in an upcoming edition of the Journal of Neurochemistry concludes a specific type of vitamin E known as tocotrienol (TCT) could prevent brain cells from dying after a stroke.

Tocopherols are the best-known form of vitamin E and the kind usually found in supplements. However, the vitamin occurs naturally in seven other different forms, including TCT. Although not widely found in the typical American diet, it is common in foods that comprise a typical Southeast Asian diet. Food sources of TCT include rice bran oil, barley, wheat germ and oats.

"Our research suggests that the different forms of natural vitamin E have distinct functions. The relatively poorly studied tocotrienol form of natural vitamin E targets specific pathways to protect against neural cell death and rescues the brain after stroke injury," Chandan Sen, professor and vice chair for research in Ohio State's Department of Surgery and senior author of the study, said in a statement to the media.

Over the past decade, the Ohio State University research team has studied how this form of vitamin E protects the brain in animal and cell models. But according to Dr. Sen, their new study provides specific details about how that protection works. Bottom line: they've identified an enzyme called cystolic calcium-dependent phospholipase A2 (cPLA2, for short) that tocotrienol targets to protect neurons after a stroke.

"We have studied an enzyme that is present all the time, but one that is activated after a stroke in a way that causes neurodegeneration. We found that it can be put in check by very low levels of tocotrienol," Dr. Sen said. "So what we have here is a naturally derived nutrient, rather than a drug, that provides this beneficial impact."

The researchers explained that the blocked blood flow to the brain associated with a stroke causes an excess of the neurotransmitter glutamate to be released. In normal amounts, glutamate is beneficial and important for memory and learning. But when produced in large amounts due to the brain trauma of a stroke, it triggers a cascade of reactions that leads to the death of neurons and causes the most serious stroke damage.

For their study, Dr. Sen and colleagues took cells from the hippocampus region of developing mouse brains and added excess glutamate to produce the type of changes seen in the brain after a stroke. In the presence of excess glutamate, the cPLA2 enzyme released a fatty acid called arachidonic acid which normally helps maintain the stability of health cell membranes. Under stroke conditions, however, with high levels of glutamate present, arachidonic acid undergoes an enzymatic chemical reaction that makes it toxic -- then brain cells are poisoned and start to die.

But when the researchers added tocotrienol to the cells that had been exposed to excess glutamate, the vitamin E decreased the release of fatty acids by 60 percent when compared to cells exposed to glutamate alone. What's more, the brain cells treated with the TCT form of vitamin E were about four times more likely to survive than brain cells exposed to glutamate alone.

In the press statement, Dr. Sen noted that the amount of TCT needed to achieve these brain cell protecting effects is quite small -- a concentration about 10 times lower than the average amount of tocotrienol circulating in humans who consume this form of vitamin E regularly. The Ohio State University researchers intend to continue their research to see if TCT can successfully prevent and treat strokes in humans.

Editor's note: NaturalNews is opposed to the use of animals in medical experiments that expose them to harm. We present these findings in protest of the way in which they were acquired.

For more information:
http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive...
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/...
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocent...