The European food safety authority (EFSA) last evaluated vitamins and minerals for safety in 2006 and set a so-called Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) for each micronutrient, provided sufficient data were available. This UL reflects the maximum safe level of a micronutrient that will not cause adverse effects when taken daily from all sources for a lifetime.
| The maximum safe daily intake for vitamin E is 300 mg. The maximum safe daily intake for vitamin E is approximately 25 times the EU recommended daily intake (Nutrient Reference Value, NRV). |
This value applies to adult men and women 19 years of age and older, as well as pregnant and nursing women.
No adverse side effects have been reported for vitamin E, even after years of administration of high doses.
The data from the NVS II (National Nutrition Survey II, 2008) on the daily intake of vitamin E from all sources (conventional diet and supplements) indicate that the safe daily intake limit of 300 mg is not reached in the German population.
The EFSA has set a value of 540 mg of vitamin E per day as the NOAEL (No Observed Adverse Effect Level) – the highest dose of a substance that has no detectable and measurable adverse effects even with continued intake. Accordingly, the amount at which no adverse effects were observed is over 40 times greater than the NRV value and twice the safe maximum daily intake.
An increased tendency to bleed is discussed as an undesirable effect of a permanently too high vitamin E intake. Several studies showed no negative effects when 600 mg of vitamin E per day was administered over a period of three years. In principle, however, high vitamin E intake may increase the bleeding tendency in individuals with blood coagulation disorders or anticoagulant therapy with vitamin K antagonists. This has been observed, for example, in patients taking anticoagulants-amounts of 70 to 270 mg of vitamin E per day taken for four weeks.