07-09-2014, 02:45 AM
400 IU of vitamin E (alpha tocopherol) has the side effect of squashing your levels of the beta, gamma, and delta tocopherols, and they're important too. See AOR's article for details. The typical "mixed tocopherols" supplement which does not list a breakdown will be 80% alpha/20% others, and since the liver gives alpha preferential retention, the 20% makes no difference at all: both 800 IU alpha and 800 IU alpha plus 20% mixed tocopherols will cause you to lose 2/3 of your gamma tocopherol.
It takes only about 50 mg alpha tocopherol to lower testosterone if that's your motivation, and doses above 150 IU/day tend to be harmful, so I use one of Jarrow's products that have 50-60 IU alpha and massively more gamma so that gamma doesn't get depleted. I also take 3 x 250 mg vitamin C and 100 mg CoQ10 so that the tocopherols can get recycled. If they don't get recycled, they cause the very same free radical damage that we're trying to prevent.
It takes only about 50 mg alpha tocopherol to lower testosterone if that's your motivation, and doses above 150 IU/day tend to be harmful, so I use one of Jarrow's products that have 50-60 IU alpha and massively more gamma so that gamma doesn't get depleted. I also take 3 x 250 mg vitamin C and 100 mg CoQ10 so that the tocopherols can get recycled. If they don't get recycled, they cause the very same free radical damage that we're trying to prevent.