Natural versus Synthetic Vitamin E - Why is the difference important

d-Alpha vs. dl-Alpha tocopherol (Natural vs. Synthetic Vitamin E)

Why it’s important for your macular degeneration patients

Your patients will be raising concerns regarding their Vitamin E intake because of the recent meta-analysis study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine that showed higher rates of death in people taking Vitamin E of higher than 400 IU.

The Council for Responsible Nutrition stated in a full page ad in The New York Times on November 29, 2004 that safe levels of Vitamin E are 1500 IU per day for Natural Vitamin E, but only 1000 IU per day for Synthetic Vitamin E. Stated another way, patients may safely take Natural Vitamin E in amounts that are 33% greater than Synthetic Vitamin E.

And which macular degeneration supplements use Natural Vitamin E?

• Not Ocuvite Preservision tablets or Preservision Capsules! • Not ICaps AREDS Formula!

Each of the above formulas uses Synthetic Vitamin E (dl-Alpha tocopheryl acetate).

Every VisiVite® Macular Degeneration Supplement uses Natural Vitamin E (d-Alpha tocopheryl succinate).

So what is the difference, and why is it important to YOUR patients?

All forms of Vitamin E possess antioxidant activity. However, the only forms maintained in human plasma and tissue are the 2R-stereoisomers, including the natural RRR-Alpha-tocopherol, commonly known as d-Alpha tocopherol. The activity of natural or natural-source Alpha-tocopherol (RRR-Alpha-tocopherol), on an equal weight basis is two times as high as synthetic Alpha-tocopherol. This is due to the fact that 50% of the stereoisomers of synthetic Alpha-tocopherol are left-handed isomers that are not maintained in human plasma have no beneficial biologic activity.

Natural Vitamin E (d-Alpha tocopherol) is found in plants, animals and in some green, brown and blue-green algae. The richest sources of the vitamin are found in unrefined edible vegetable oil, including wheat germ, safflower, sunflower, cottonseed, canola and olive oils. D-Alpha-tocopherol succinate is the succinate ester of natural-source d-Alpha tocopherol, and is obtained by the vacuum steam distillation and succinylation of edible vegetable oil.

Contrast this with the less expensive dl-Alpha tocopherol, which is an all-synthetic form of Alpha-tocopherol. It is produced by coupling racemic isophytol with trimethylhydroquinone to form dl-tocopherol. The dl-tocopherol product is then acetylated to produce dl-Alpha-tocopheryl acetate.

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At Vitamin Science Inc., we don’t compromise when it comes to the quality of our products. Our manufacturing facility is GMP Certified, testifying that we often use products that exceed the standard of pharmaceutical grade and in addition, use the most advanced and accurate manufacturing techniques.

We think that both you and your patients will agree that VisiVite supplements provide the highest quality and safest means to treat their macular degeneration.