What is vitamin E toxicity?
Vitamin E toxicity is when excess vitamin E builds up in the body and leads to health complications.
Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin that acts as an antioxidant. It may reduce your risk of heart disease, certain cancers, vision problems and brain diseases.
One of its key functions is to keep blood vessels dilated and prevent blood clots from forming in them.
The daily value (DV) of vitamin E is 15 mg per day. The following foods are rich in vitamin E:
- Oils: soybean oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, wheat germ oil, corn oil
- Nuts and seeds: sunflower seeds, almonds, hazelnuts, peanut butter, peanuts
- Fruit: kiwi, mango, tomato
- Vegetables: spinach, broccoli
Since fat-soluble vitamins are stored in fat, they can accumulate in your body fat, especially if you take too much of them through diet or supplements.
For vitamin E, the upper limit (UL) — or the amount most people can get through food and supplements each day without complications — is 1,000 milligrams.
Who needs vitamin E supplements?
Many people take vitamin E supplements hoping to improve their immune system, reduce the risk of cancer, or strengthen their hair, skin, and nails through the vitamin's antioxidant and potential anti-aging effects.
However, vitamin E supplements are unnecessary and offer little benefit unless you are deficient in the vitamin.
People who eat a low-fat diet or have a disease that affects their ability to digest and absorb fat, such as Crohn's disease or cystic fibrosis, may be at increased risk for vitamin E deficiency.
Side effects and symptoms
Excessive intake of vitamin E can cause blood thinning and lead to fatal bleeding. It also interferes with blood clotting, the body's natural defense mechanism to prevent excessive blood loss after an injury.
It is also associated with an increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke, or stroke caused by bleeding in the brain.
Additionally, one study suggests that excessive intake of vitamin E is associated with a higher risk of death from any cause, but more research is needed to explore this possibility.
Because of these potentially serious risks, you should not take high-dose vitamin E supplements.
Potential drug interactions
When vitamin E is taken at normal levels, the risk of drug interactions appears to be minimal.
However, high-dose vitamin E supplements (supplements that provide more than 300 mg of vitamin E per day) may interact with the blood thinners aspirin and warfarin.
They may also interfere with tamoxifen (a drug used to treat breast cancer) and cyclosporine (an immunosuppressant used by people who have had organ transplants).
If you have any questions about potential interactions between vitamin E supplements and your medications, you should talk to your healthcare provider.
Treatment and Prevention
Treatment for mild vitamin E poisoning includes discontinuing vitamin E supplement use, but more serious complications may require medical intervention.
The best way to prevent vitamin E toxicity is to keep your daily intake of vitamin E from supplements and food below the UL of 1,000 mg per day. Overdosage is unlikely to occur when eating vitamin E-rich foods alone.
That said, taking more than 300 mg of vitamin E supplements per day may start to interfere with medication, and one study noted that people taking 180 mg per day had an increased risk of stroke.
However, most people don't need this much, as the daily intake is only 15 mg. If you have any questions or concerns about vitamin E supplements, please talk to your healthcare provider.
Also, make sure to store these supplements in a safe place out of the reach of children. Because vitamin E is fat-soluble, it increases the risk of toxicity and complications .
Summarize
Although vitamin E is an essential nutrient, it's possible to overdose - especially when taking supplements.
Vitamin E poisoning can lead to serious complications such as blood thinning and may increase the risk of stroke and death from any cause.
To prevent vitamin E toxicity, make sure you don't get more than 1,000 mg of vitamin E per day between supplements and food.
