Vitamin E
A fat-soluble vitamin with eight natural forms, taken above all as an antioxidant.
- Oxidative stress
- Memory and thinking
- Liver fat
- Hormones and blood sugar
- Mood and anxiety
A plain-English overview, not advice. Written from published reviews and trials and from what people say in public forums.
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On this page
What is vitamin E?
Vitamin E is not one substance but a family of eight: four tocopherols and four tocotrienols, all fat-soluble, all found in the oily parts of food. Alpha-tocopherol is the form that predominates in human tissue, and it is the one most supplements are built around, sold as natural d-alpha, as synthetic dl-alpha, or as a blend that keeps the gamma and delta members and the tocotrienols alongside it. It was discovered almost a century ago as a factor rats needed in order to breed, and was pinned down soon afterwards as a fat-soluble antioxidant. That antioxidant reputation is what still puts it in the basket.
Why do people take vitamin E?
Oxidative stress and inflammation
The thinking. Vitamin E is the antioxidant people reach for when what they have in mind is fat. It dissolves in fat rather than water, so it travels into cell membranes, where reviews describe it keeping the polyunsaturated fats from oxidising and steadying the reactive oxygen and nitrogen species that cells throw off as they work.
What research has found. Trials have measured this in the blood rather than in how anyone feels. One analysis pooling 33 trials in 2,102 adults found C-reactive protein, a general marker of inflammation, lower after supplementation, and the difference showed for alpha-tocopherol rather than the other forms. A second pooled analysis, in adults having regular dialysis, found a marker of fat oxidation lower as well. This is one of the best-studied uses, and several reviews of trials broadly agree.
Memory and thinking
The thinking. The idea that free radicals wear on an ageing brain has made vitamin E one of the antioxidants people try with memory in mind. Reviews trace that interest back decades, and note the vitamin is active in nerve cells as well as in the cells of the immune system.
What research has found. Most of this work has been done in adults already living with memory problems or dementia. A Cochrane review of double-blind trials found no clearly important difference in thinking scores against a dummy tablet, though a single trial recorded less decline in everyday tasks. A trial following 7,540 older men with no symptoms found the same number went on to develop dementia in all four groups. Several reviews of trials have measured this, and they broadly agree.
Liver fat
The thinking. Fatty liver is common, often turns up by chance on a blood test, and vitamin E is the supplement people most often read about for it. The thinking is that fat sitting in liver cells oxidises, so a vitamin that dissolves in fat and settles where that is happening might show up in the readings.
What research has found. The trials were all in adults or children already diagnosed with fatty liver. Pooled analyses of 794 adults across 12 trials, and of 665 children across eleven, found the liver enzyme ALT lower than on placebo, and a review of eight trials reported changes in liver tissue too. In a trial of 124 adults taking 300 mg a day, 29 per cent improved on biopsy against 14 per cent on a dummy tablet. A fair body of trials has looked at this, and most point the same way.
Hormones and blood sugar
The thinking. Some women take vitamin E with their cycle and their hormone readings in mind, and every trial here was run in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. What researchers were testing is the idea that oxidative stress is part of the picture in that condition, so an antioxidant might move the hormone and insulin numbers that come with it.
What research has found. A review of 12 trials reported luteinising hormone and testosterone lower, and FSH and progesterone higher, after vitamin E. A trial of 86 women comparing vitamin E with coenzyme Q10 found testosterone lower on vitamin E, while fasting blood sugar was unchanged. Neither states how many women the pooled figures cover. Research here is still young: a few studies so far, mostly pointing the same way.
Mood and anxiety
The thinking. Mood is the newest reason on this page. Researchers noticed that people with low mood or anxiety tended to have lower blood levels of antioxidants, vitamin E among them, and asked whether topping it up moved the scores. Some people take it on that basis, usually alongside something else.
What research has found. One review gathered twelve studies and pooled nine of them against a dummy tablet. Across 354 people, depression scores came out lower on vitamin E; across 306 people, the difference in anxiety scores was not clear. The reviewers pointed out that only three studies compared vitamin E on its own, the rest adding omega-3 or other ingredients, and called the results inconclusive. Studies here point in different directions, so this one is still being worked out; the dose, how long people took it and who took part all seem to matter.
What does vitamin E do in the body?
Vitamin E is fat-soluble, so it travels with the fats in a meal and settles into cell membranes rather than circulating freely in the blood. Reviews describe its everyday job there as keeping the polyunsaturated fats in those membranes from oxidising, and regulating the reactive oxygen and nitrogen species that cells make as they work. Alpha-tocopherol is the form the body holds on to most.
The longer version is that vitamin E does more than mop up. Reviews describe it changing the signals passed inside a cell and the genes a cell switches on, and altering how immune cells such as T cells and macrophages behave. The eight forms are handled differently, too: the body breaks the non-alpha ones down through cytochrome P450 enzymes into smaller products, and some of those look more anti-inflammatory than the vitamin they came from. Running short is rare, but where it happens it shows in the nervous system, as unsteadiness.
What do people say about taking vitamin E?
These are anecdotes people have shared, not evidence.
No community discussions have been summarised for this page yet.
What forms of vitamin E are there?
| Form | What’s different | Per serving, on products we list |
|---|---|---|
| Natural (d-alpha) | Alpha-tocopherol in its natural shape, the form that predominates in human tissue. | 168 mg to 268.5 mg |
| Synthetic (dl-alpha) | Alpha-tocopherol made synthetically, which labels mark as dl-alpha rather than d-alpha. | not in our price tables yet |
| Mixed tocopherols / tocotrienols | Carries gamma and delta tocopherols, or tocotrienols, alongside alpha: the family’s other members. | not in our price tables yet |
What else is worth knowing about vitamin E?
- Labels give the amount per serving, and a serving may be more than one capsule. Amounts appear in milligrams on some labels and in international units on others, so it is worth checking which unit you are reading before you compare two tubs.
- The doses used in this research sit well above the amount a label usually describes as a daily serving: 400 IU a day and above in the liver reviews, and 300 mg a day in the biopsy trial. Most of the people taking part were already being followed for something, whether fatty liver, memory problems, polycystic ovary syndrome or kidney dialysis.
- Side effects were not a feature of these trials. The dementia review found serious adverse events and deaths no more common on vitamin E than on a dummy tablet, and the liver biopsy trial judged none of its twelve serious events to be related to what people were taking.
- One meta-regression of 53 randomised trials with a low risk of bias, covering 241,883 adults, found deaths from any cause slightly higher where the daily dose was above the 15 mg recommended allowance. Below that level there were too few trials to say either way.
If you take medication, are pregnant, or have a health condition, check with a pharmacist or GP first.
The research behind this page (18 studies)
- The effects of vitamin E supplementation on malondialdehyde as a biomarker of oxidative stress in haemodialysis patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis. (2021, meta-analysis)
- The effect of vitamin E supplementation on selected inflammatory biomarkers in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. (2020, meta-analysis)
- Vitamin E for Alzheimer's dementia and mild cognitive impairment. (2017, meta-analysis)
- Vitamin E for Alzheimer's dementia and mild cognitive impairment. (2017, systematic review)
- Association of Antioxidant Supplement Use and Dementia in the Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease by Vitamin E and Selenium Trial (PREADViSE). (2017, randomised trial)
- Effect of vitamin E on cardiometabolic factors in paediatric metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: a systematic review with meta-analysis. (2026, meta-analysis)
- The Effect of Vitamin E Supplementation on Serum Aminotransferases in Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD): A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. (2023, meta-analysis)
- Systematic review with meta-analysis: The effect of vitamin E supplementation in adult patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. (2021, meta-analysis)
- Vitamin E (300 mg) in the treatment of MASH: A multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. (2025, randomised trial)
- Effect of vitamin E supplementation on cardiometabolic risk factors, inflammatory and oxidative markers and hormonal functions in PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome): a systematic review and meta-analysis. (2022, meta-analysis)
- Hormonal and Metabolic Effects of Coenzyme Q10 and/or Vitamin E in Patients With Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. (2019, randomised trial)
- Vitamin E, Alpha-Tocopherol, and Its Effects on Depression and Anxiety: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. (2022, meta-analysis)
- Antioxidants and Exercise Performance: With a Focus on Vitamin E and C Supplementation. (2020, review)
- Vitamin E and cancer prevention: Studies with different forms of tocopherols and tocotrienols. (2020, review)
- Complexity of vitamin E metabolism. (2016, review)
- Vitamin E (Alpha-Tocopherol) Metabolism and Nutrition in Chronic Kidney Disease. (2022, review)
- Vitamin E and Metabolic Health: Relevance of Interactions with Other Micronutrients. (2022, review)
- Vitamin E: How much is enough, too much and why! (2021, review)
How much does vitamin E cost?
That depends on the form and the pack, so we work out the price of the same dose of every vitamin E product we can find and rank them.