February is Heart Month, and an absolutely critical nutrient for the heart and cardiovascular system is vitamin E. When experimental animals are deprived of vitamin E, they die of heart disease.

The two principle roles vitamin E plays in heart health are as an antithrombin, preventing clots inside blood vessels, and as an antioxidant, preventing lipid peroxidation, or oxidation of fats. While vitamin C is our body’s major water-soluble antioxidant, vitamin E is its major fat-soluble antioxidant.

Maintaining healthy arteries, free of plaque, is key to maintaining a healthy heart. Plaque forms when cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein or LDL), which is a type of fat, becomes oxidized. Vitamin E plays an essential role in protecting LDL from such oxidation.

Cell membranes are composed primarily of fats. As we age our cell membranes tend to become stiffer, primarily due to oxidation. The blood cells themselves become thicker, which increases blood viscosity and impedes circulation. Vitamin E helps blood cell membranes retain youthful flexibility.

The heart is a muscle. Vitamin E maintains and repairs cell membranes in muscle cells through its antioxidant function, keeping muscles strong.  Along with vitamin C and quercetin, vitamin E also helps to repair blood vessel walls.

But, you may say, “I’ve heard that studies on vitamin E and the heart are conflicting.

That’s true, and here’s why.

For starters, most studies don’t use the right form of vitamin E: a natural versus a synthetic form containing all four of vitamin E’s components: alpha, gamma, delta and beta tocopherol.

Most vitamin E is synthetic, which is known to be far less effective than natural vitamin E and may interfere with vitamin E metabolism. (Even products labeled “natural vitamin E” can legally be up to 90% synthetic.)  Other E products lack all four tocopherols, but all four must be present for vitamin E to be optimally effective.

Second, most studies don’t use enough.  LDL oxidation doesn’t appear to begin until 400 IU are taken daily, and 1,200 IU were found to be significantly more effective.

Last, vitamin E works as a team player with other antioxidants, which must also be present for best results.

It is next to impossible to get enough vitamin E from diet alone, and most Americans fall short of even the inadequate RDA requirement of 15 mg (22 IU) per day.

So don’t be misled by unnecessary confusion. For optimal health we recommend 1 to 3 400 IU capsules of our top quality vitamin E per day, and more in certain circumstances.

Be sure to talk to your doctor before starting a vitamin E supplement if you are on blood thinners.

And be sure to get the best vitamin E. Our vitamin E is 100% natural, with all four tocopherols, and it doesn’t contain pesticide or solvent residues, or rancid oils, as some other natural vitamin E products do.