to overview Vitamins
Occurrence and structure
Tocopherol only occurs in plants, so it is particularly abundant in vegetable oils, for example. It has a chroman ring with a side chain. Among these oils are sunflower oil, palm oil, wheat germ oil and olive oil.
Function
Vitamin E is found in all biological membranes and serves as an antioxidant. This means that it protects – like vitamin C – cell components from being attacked by aggressive oxygen radicals, which in most cases would lead to destruction/loss of function.
Symptoms of deficiency
This is extremely rare, as the human depot fat (i.e. the fat on the stomach, hips, legs…) is able to store vitamin E in amounts sufficient for 1-2 years. If a deficiency of tocopherol nevertheless occurs, haemolytic anaemia (i.e. the number of blood cells is too low because they are dissolved) can occur, among other things, due to the lack of protection against oxidative stress. Water-soluble (hydrophilic) vitamins: Fat-soluble (hydrophobic) vitamins:
- Vitamin B1 – thiamine
- Vitamin B2 – Riboflavin
- Vitamin B3 – Niacin
- Vitamin B5 – pantothenic acid
- Vitamin B6 – PyridoxalPyridoxinPyridoxamine
- Vitamin B7 – biotin
- Vitamin B9 – folic acid
- Vitamin B12 – cobalamin
- Vitamin A – Retinol
- Vitamin C – Ascorbic acid
- Vitamin D – Calcitriol
- Vitamin E – tocopherol
- Vitamin K – PhylloquinoneMenachinone