Dr. Barrie Tan, founder of American River Nutrition and notable expert in the field of vitamin E tocopherols and tocotrienols, recently presented a live web seminar to the members of the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics entitled “Vitamin E: Setting the Record Straight.” 
 
The presentation is now available to view on demand on the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics website: http://www.eatrightstore.org/product/07A1690D-F6F6-4B29-885A-44323F390027.
 
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, with over 75,000 members, is the world’s largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. The Academy is committed to improving the nation’s health and advancing the profession of dietetics through research, education and advocacy. 
 
The focus of Dr. Tan’s presentation was to clarify for the membership the various forms of vitamin E. For 90 years vitamin E research has produced prolific and notable discoveries, including isolation from plants, chemical identifications, and total syntheses. Until the last few decades, however, attention has been given mostly to the biological activities and underlying mechanisms of alpha-tocopherol, which we now know is only one of more than eight vitamin E isomers. Alpha-tocopherol is no longer considered innocuous, but may be a liability to all other forms of vitamin E, tocopherols and tocotrienols alike, a fact not well understood by today’s health professionals. Tocotrienols have proven to contain some exceptional benefits that are not shared by their “older” tocopherol siblings.  Today, the brightest spot for tocotrienol research is in inflammatory disorders such as cardiovascular disease and cancer.  
 
This presentation covered important milestones in vitamin E research since its discovery, distinguished between the vitamin’s two subgroups, tocopherols and tocotrienols, and described current sources and compositions of tocotrienols. Importantly, alpha-tocopherol interference with tocotrienol functions was covered, as well as the anti-inflammatory properties observed with tocotrienol application in cardiovascular and metabolic disease, cancer, radiation exposure, and bone ailments. Dr. Tan also described the recent studies highlighting tocotrienol’s role as the 21st century vitamin E.