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Vitamin E is one of the most popular supplements taken by people, and for good reason, it is an amazing supplement. I have been taking vitamin E for over thirty years. However many of you are likely taking the wrong form.
By far the most popular form of vitamin E is the alpha tocopherol form. Alpha-tocopherol has justifiably earned a good reputation as an antioxidant, which helps to fight against damage caused by unwanted free radicals, but its familiarity has perhaps attracted research away from the other seven forms of vitamin E. This is especially significant as gamma-tocopherol is actually the most commonly occurring natural form of vitamin E in the American diet,
However gamma-tocopherol seems to be the important form of vitamin E that actually inhibits the proliferation of cancer cells. Four years ago there was a study that showed there was a 500% decrease in prostate cancer in men that had the highest level of gamma tocopherol. If you click on the preceding link in the last sentence you will find the entire full text article to review.
I posted a review on this study when it was first published, but at that time I wasn't linking directly to the journal articles. So now you can have the ability to actually read the full article if you have the time or desire.
I have also included the full text refenence for the new study on gamma tocopherol below which is the first time gamma-tocopherol has been shown to induce death in lab-grown human cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone. This is really amazing. Most vitamin E supplements contain only alpha-tocopherol, a different form of vitamin E that alone does not have these anticancer properties.
Bottom line? If you have prostate cancer or are interested in preventing it or any other type of cancer, time to get on the band wagon and start taking gamma in addition to alpha tocopherol.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences December 21, 2004(101)51:17825-17830
Free Full Text Article