There are many vitamins that are needed to treat the effects of PMS symptoms in women. Vitamin E is one of the vitamins that are needed to help fight these symptoms. Vitamin E is not only responsible for PMS, but many other functions in the body as well which is why it is very important to get vitamin E daily in a balanced diet. Vitamin E, along with other vitamins, can be a great help in reducing the symptoms associated with PMS that many women get every month.

What Is Vitamin E

Vitamin is a fat-soluble vitamin that has eight different forms. When a vitamin is fat-soluble is means that the body can store it up for later use.

Often times, when people ingest foods containing vitamin E, the body takes what it needs, uses it and stores the rest for later use. These get stored in the liver and fat cells of the body and can be utilized whenever the body needs them.

The body uses the stores when we do not get enough vitamin E in our diets on a particular day or it needs more vitamin E to function.

Just because the body stores vitamin E for later use does not mean that people do not need to get the recommended daily allowance of that vitamin so that the body has something to store up. We need to be providing our body with appropriate levels so that it can function properly and have stores for later that it requires.

Forms of Vitamin E

There are eight types of vitamin E. The first four are alpha, beta, gamma and delta tocopherol. The second four are alpha, beta, gamma and delta tocotrienol.  The difference is their chemical makeup and each one provides a different function in nature, but alpha tocopherol is the only one that is found in the human body.

Alpha tocopherol (or a-tocopherol) is the most common form of vitamin E that people get. This is the form of vitamin E that is most researched, most understood and is designed to protect cells from damage. This is the vitamin E form that people take and find in food sources.

What Does It Do

Vitamin E works as an antioxidant in the body. This means that it fights against something called free radicals. Free radicals are molecules that are unstable and interact with out DNA to damage the function of cells.

Vitamin E is used by the body to prevent against damage to the cells. As an antioxidant, vitamin E is responsible for slowing down the processes that are associated with damaging cells in the body.

Since vitamin E is used to protect cells, it has an important part in preventing disease in the body. Vitamin E protects against diseases associated with the heart and blood vessels. It can also help with diabetes treatment, painful periods, premenstrual syndrome and menopausal symptoms. Vitamin E is also responsible for increasing energy levels and muscle repair.

With the fight against free radicals being the primary use of vitamin E, it is commonly used to help with skincare. Vitamin E can be taken orally or applied to the skin to keep skin looking young and fresh.

Many skin care products on the market utilize vitamin E in their formulas. Since it can also help with sunburns, many soothing creams utilize vitamin E in their products as well.

Sources

Vitamin E can be found in natural sources like food sources and natural ingredient multivitamins or supplements. It can also be made synthetically. There is not much difference between the naturally occurring and synthetically made versions of vitamin E. One study did show that it can take more synthetic vitamin E to achieve the same blood levels of natural vitamin E. This means that a person has to take 300 IU of vitamin E to equate to 100 IU of natural vitamin E in the blood. This leans towards getting natural vitamin E through food sources or natural supplements so that you are getting the most benefit for the dosage.

How Does Vitamin E Help PMS Symptoms

Vitamin E has been linked with PMS relief. There is a strong correlation between increased dosages of vitamin E and PMS relief. It can help with painful periods, heavy bleeding and the emotional aspects of PMS. If vitamin E is taken at least two days before and the three days after a period, there are drastically reduced levels of cramping, pain and bleeding during menstruation. By increasing vitamin E, it has shown that women can reduce the anxiety, food cravings and depression that accompany PMS as well.

Studies and Tests on Vitamin E and PMS

A study conducted by SmithKline Beecham and published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition evaluated 41 women through a double-blind, placebo controlled study. These 41 women all experienced PMS symptoms. Half of the group was provided with 400 IU of vitamin E per day and the other half was placebo controlled. This study concluded that the women of the

vitamin E group experienced far fewer symptoms related to PMS than those of the control group. www.jacn.org

This strengthens the correlation between vitamin E and PMS relief. Vitamin E can help with the mental affects of PMS as well as the physical. It is known to increase mood, reduce anxiety, reduce cramping, and limit heavy bleeding.

A second study performed by Hoffman-La Roche, Inc. and published in the International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research found that by administering high doses of vitamin E gave relief to PMS symptoms. These doses were between 300 and 600 IU per day to women who were suffering from PMS symptoms. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The recommended daily allowance for women is 22.5 IU per day. In studies, up to 600 IU per day has been seen to be beneficial to women’s health. A great reduction in PMS symptoms is found to occur with dosages over 100 IU per day.

R. S. London published a study the Journal of the American College of Nutrition that conducted a double blind study of 75 women who suffered from PMS symptoms. The women were divided into three groups. Each group was given certain daily allowance of vitamin E. One group received 150 IU, another 300 IU and the third 600 IU per day of vitamin E. All groups of women found PMS relief in three of four categories of symptoms. www.jacn.org

How Much Vitamin E Should I Take For PMS

This means that it is safe for women to get up to 600 IU per day of vitamin E to combat PMS symptoms, but the London study showed that as little as 150 IU per day is sufficient in preventing PMS.

Large doses of vitamin E can cause some toxicity problems. These doses are about 800 IU per day consistently so it is rare that people experience vitamin E toxicity. If this does occur, the symptoms include nausea, diarrhea, stomach cramping, fatigue, weakness, headaches, blurred vision, rashes, bruising and bleeding. It is difficult to get this level of vitamin E per day.

Food Sources

There are many food sources for vitamin E. The first of these is oils. Vitamin E is found in oils like wheat germ, sunflower, safflower and palm oils. Several types of nuts also contain vitamin E like almonds and hazelnuts. Once of the best sources for vitamin E is in green leafy vegetables like spinach, turnips, beets, collard greens and dandelion greens.

Other vegetables like broccoli, avocado, asparagus, pumpkin, sweet potato all have vitamin E as well. Fruit sources for vitamin E include kiwi, mango, tomatoes, and papaya.

To get the full benefits of these foods, they need to be consumed raw. Cooking them reduces the levels of vitamin E available. These foods should be incorporated into a balanced diet and a good rule of thumb is to go for green foods. Green vegetables and green fruits can provide you with the required daily amount of vitamin E women need. Making sure that you get healthy oils and nuts can also be a great benefit to your diet so incorporate almonds and safflower oil to your recipes to get the most benefits from these food sources of vitamin E.

Deficiencies

Vitamin E deficiencies are a very rare occurrence. Often vitamin E deficiency is discussed in conjuction with premature babies. If found in adults it is often associated with certain disease like Crohn’s , cystic fibrosis, and AVED. Sometimes people have a genetic disorder that prevents them from storing vitamin E. In these cases, people get a true vitamin E deficiency. Symptoms of deficiency are speech problems, reflex problems, anemia, impaired immune function and inflammation. Since this is so rare, it has been proven that women who have PMS symptoms do not have true vitamin E deficiencies.

A study done by the University of Texas Medical Branch and publish in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology showed that of 20 women studied, none of the levels at any point in the menstrual cycle dropped to levels that would be indicative of deficiencies. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

This is good news as a vitamin E deficiency is very serious. Just because women do not have a full on deficiency of vitamin E during PMS does not mean that their vitamin E levels do not drop. Hormone fluctuations in the body can cause changes in vitamin levels. During PMS, estrogen levels fall to allow menstruation to occur.

Estrogen is the hormone responsible for regulating vitamins in the body so when estrogen falls, so do the vitamin levels in the body thus, causing a lower level of vitamin E than normal and PMS symptoms like cramping, pain, depression and fatigue occur.

By getting the recommended daily allowance of vitamin E in their diets, women are able to keep the PMS symptoms associated with these drops in hormone levels away.

Supplements

Supplements are a good way to keep balanced levels of vitamin E in the system. They can provide a baseline level of vitamin E to keep levels steady as a balanced diet gets a good deal of vitamin E already. A supplement is great to help keep level balanced and steady.

There are some supplements out there specifically designed to get women the levels of vitamins they need to keep their levels regulated and prevent PMS symptoms.  Period Vitamin is one of these supplements. Period Vitamin contains 15 IU of vitamin E. This is 67% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin E for women. This allows women to keep their vitamin levels steady and supplement their diets.

While vitamin E is helpful in preventing PMS symptoms, it needs to combine with many other vitamins, minerals and herbs to fight all the symptoms associated with PMS. To attempt to take all the vitamins required individually is impossible. It would be more than twenty pills per day. A supplement like Period Vitamin puts all of the required vitamins, minerals and herbs all in one supplement to fight all the symptoms of PMS.