What exactly is so special about tocotrienol vitamin E? Why do we specialise in it, and what are the benefits?
"Vitamin E" is a group of molecules that serves to protect our cells from "free radicals" – an antioxidant. We humans (and animals too) cannot produce it ourselves; it must come from our diet – which is why it is a "vitamin".
They have a "head" (functional group) that can neutralise the aggressive radicals, thereby also preventing the oxidative chain reaction.
And they have a "tail" with which they are embedded in the cell membranes.
If this group is saturated, the compound is a tocopherol. These are stable, but significantly less effective as antioxidants.
In contrast, tocotrienols have a polyunsaturated group. This makes them mobile within the cell membrane, enabling them to protect the cells much more effectively.
That is what we want: the best antioxidant to protect our cells from cellular stress, ageing and cell death.
There is another aspect to consider: inflammation.
Inflammation is regulated by a factor called NF-κB (en-ef-kappa-be). This reacts to free radicals and antioxidants. If there are few antioxidants (and many free radicals), the cells switch to inflammation mode, which in turn generates new free radicals.
Antioxidants, on the other hand, neutralise free radicals and thus reduce the severity of inflammation. This is only possible with fat-soluble antioxidants, i.e. vitamin E. And only with tocotrienol, as this is the only form potent enough as an antioxidant. What you get in the pharmacy (or the internet) labelled as "vitamin E" is almost always alpha-tocopherol, usually synthetic, and if you take a lot of it (> "300 IU") it actually becomes a radical itself. Tocotrienols, on the other hand, are released quickly enough and have a very good antioxidant effect even in large quantities.
Tocotrienols are especially interesting for cells with high energy demands and for tissues exposed to external stressors such as light, UV radiation, environmental stress, and oxidative stress.
They are all natural (never synthetic), extracted from plant-oils and effective.
