This volume is the newest release in the authoritative series of quantitative estimates of nutrient intakes to be used for planning and assessing diets for healthy people. Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) is the newest framework for an expanded approach developed by U.S. and Canadian scientists. This book discusses in detail the role of vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, and the carotenoids in human physiology and health. For each nutrient the committee presents what is known about how it functions in the human body, which factors may affect how it works, and how the nutrient may be related to chronic disease. Dietary Reference Intakes provides reference intakes, such as Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs), for use in planning nutritionally adequate diets for different groups based on age and gender, along with a new reference intake, the Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL), designed to assist an individual in knowing how much is "too much" of a nutrient.

Vitamin E is a group of fat-soluble compounds found in a wide variety of foods. Daily requirements of vitamin E can be met with a balanced diet. High-dose supplementation may be hazardous rather than beneficial. Vitamin E serves as an antioxidant, participates in anti-inflammatory processes, inhibits platelet aggregation, and enhances immunity. Vitamin E supplementation can be beneficial against coronary artery disease, eye disorders, cognitive decline, cancer, and skin aging. This book will mainly focus on the diverse functions of vitamin E, importance of vitamin E status to provide a healthy lifespan, and the interaction between vitamin E and several pathological conditions. Readers will receive a general overview of the importance of vitamin E in health and different pathological conditions.

In this book, Vitamin E in Health and Disease, the chapter by Dr Lisa Schmölz et al., The Hepatic Fate of Vitamin E, includes the hepatic metabolism of vitamin E, its storage, release, distribution, and its effects on the metabolism in great detail, as well as its effect on the prevention of diseases, in addition to its role in anti-aging. The chapter by Dr Rusu Anca Elena reports on the effect of vitamin E in patients with hemodialysis. In a similar manner, the chapter of Drs Rayan Ahmed and Paul W. Sylvester describe g-Tocotrienol, a natural isoform within the vitamin E family of compounds, which displays potent antiproliferative, apoptotic and reversal of epithelial-to-mesenchymal-transition activity against breast cancer, employing treatment doses that have little or no effect on normal cell viability. The chapter by Milka Mileva and Angel S. Galabov describes how vitamin E could be recommended as a reliable agent, indeed as a component in multiorgan flu therapy. Last, Dr Juan José Godina-Nava et al. describe the cytoprotector effect of the 120-Hz electromagnetic fields in early hepatocarcinogenesis.

Vitamin E is a well described and established fat-soluble essential micronutrient and as such has to be provided to the human body on a regular basis in order to avoid deficiency and maintain a healthy status. This is well established and also reviewed in a number of publications. However, a huge body of evidence has accumulated over the last decade, or so, which provides new insights on the mode of action of vitamin E, and the biological role of the tocopherol isomers, and sheds new light on the role of vitamin E in human health. Both fundamental knowledge gain and new data on the role and challenges of vitamin E as an essential micronutrient, including emerging evidence on clinical benefits, will be addressed to put this essential micronutrient in the appropriate perspective. Given this level of new evidence which has emerged over the recent years, a book on vitamin E will put into perspective the concerns which have been raised on vitamin E and which resulted in a misinformation and confusion of the public regarding the importance of vitamin E for human health. This book will reemphasize that Vitamin E is clearly required for human health and its inadequacy leads to increased risk of a variety of diseases. In addition new data of non-communicable diseases (NCD) dependent on vitamin E status show that a lifetime of low intake increases risks of development, severity and complications of NCDs. This text will put the vitamin E case into an up-to-date, science based, applicable real-life perspective and offer pragmatic solutions for its safe and personalized use beyond the various methodological and statistical controversies. The purpose of this book is also to raise awareness not only in the nutrition and medical community, but also in the public media that there are a number of health conditions where an increased intake of vitamin E can be of potential importance. Further this review should also stimulate funding organizations and agencies to increase their support for vitamin E research in order to facilitate the further exploration of the safe and efficacious use of this essential micronutrient.

This book presents the scientific evidence for the role of vitamin C in health and disease and offers new guidance on vitamin C intake in humans. The importance of vitamin C in preventing cancer and cardiovascular disease, its relevance to aging and stress, and its impacts on each of the human body systems are thoroughly assessed on the basis of the author’s extensive research and his deep understanding, as an anatomy professor, of the body as a whole. Findings published in the international scientific literature are fully taken into account, and due consideration is also given to empirical evidence, bearing in mind that mechanisms of action cannot always be precisely defined in the absence of human experiments. Beyond providing an up-to-date scientific perspective on the effects of vitamin C, the author hopes to promote human health worldwide by encouraging proper use of the vitamin. To this end, recommendations are made on the amount of vitamin C that should be taken daily and on the best way to take it. The book will be of interest to researchers, clinicians, and all others who wish to learn more about this vitamin and its significance.

Every aspect of immune function and host defense is dependent upon a proper supply and balance of nutrients. Severe malnutrition can cause significant alteration in immune response, but even subclinical deficits may be associated with an impaired immune response, and an increased risk of infection. Infectious diseases have accounted for more off-duty days during major wars than combat wounds or nonbattle injuries. Combined stressors may reduce the normal ability of soldiers to resist pathogens, increase their susceptibility to biological warfare agents, and reduce the effectiveness of vaccines intended to protect them. There is also a concern with the inappropriate use of dietary supplements. This book, one of a series, examines the impact of various types of stressors and the role of specific dietary nutrients in maintaining immune function of military personnel in the field. It reviews the impact of compromised nutrition status on immune function; the interaction of health, exercise, and stress (both physical and psychological) in immune function; and the role of nutritional supplements and newer biotechnology methods reported to enhance immune function. The first part of the book contains the committee's workshop summary and evaluation of ongoing research by Army scientists on immune status in special forces troops, responses to the Army's questions, conclusions, and recommendations. The rest of the book contains papers contributed by workshop speakers, grouped under such broad topics as an introduction to what is known about immune function, the assessment of immune function, the effect of nutrition, and the relation between the many and varied stresses encountered by military personnel and their effect on health.

Probes developments and trends in research and clinical applications of vitamin E, discussing its chemistry and biochemistry and natural occurence in nuts, seeds, whole grains and vegetable and fish-liver oils. The book covers new findings on the role of vitamin E as a biological response modifier.