Tocopherol or Vitamin E - Inspira Nutritionals

Tocopherol or Vitamin E

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Tocopherol

Also known as: Vitamin E, alpha tocopherol

Main benefit:  Antioxidant

 

Details

Primary fat-soluble antioxidant in our skin

Significant photoprotection against UVB rays

Vit C + Vit E work in synergy and provide great photoprotection

Has emollient properties

Easy to formulate, stable and relatively inexpensive

 

Benefits

Vitamin E is the major fat-soluble antioxidant in our skin. As a strong antioxidant it’s an A-player in protecting the skin cells from the nasty little things called free-radicals that want to destroy the lovely collagen that makes our skin nice and firm.sq

 

Because it’s fat soluble our skin just loves to absorb it (as opposed to water soluble things where we have to trick our skin to absorb them).

 

Vit E can be found in many foods: vegetables, oils, seeds, nuts, corn, soy, whole wheat flour, margarine and even some meats and dairy products. The natural form is denoted by a ‘d’ in the beginning of the name and  ‘dl’ denotes the synthetic form. While this is absolutely not always true, in this case research shows that the natural form is more active and is better absorbed.

 

The name tocopherol actually refers to a whole group of stuff and it has four subtypes: alpha, beta, gamma and delta. The subtypes are quite different: alpha-tocopherol is the nicest and most active one, while delta-tocopherol seems to be the lazy guy and does not even have antioxidant properties. In cosmetic products mixed tocopherol (containing all subtypes) or alpha-tocopherol is the best choice.

 

There are lots of studies showing that Vit E has some nice photoprotection properties, meaning it can protect the skin from UV (and in case of Vit E it’s mainly UVB) rays. If you put it on your skin,  it lowers the production of sunburn cells, reduces the damage caused by UVB rays and inhibits photocarcinogenesis.

 

What it does not do is helping agains UVA caused skin issues like sagging. But if you combine it with Vit C (especially in high amount like 15%), the two together work in synergy, give broad spectrum protection and double each other's effectiveness.

 

 

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