If you exercise and lead an active lifestyle, then vitamin E must be present in your diet. Find out the pros and cons of an essential trace element. The content of the article:
- Types of vitamin E
- As an antioxidant
- Features of use
Everyone understands that athletes need significantly more minerals and vitamins than ordinary people. This is even more true for those who are mainly engaged in strength training. During exercise, a lot of minerals are excreted from the body in sweat. It is on this fact that the recommendations of experts to use special sports drinks are based. But, even following these tips, additional intake of nutrients into the body will not be superfluous. Today we will talk about how vitamin E is used in sports.
Types of vitamin E
Vitamin E plays a very important role in sports, as you will see now. It should be noted right away that all vitamins can be divided into two categories: fat-soluble and water-soluble.
Substances from the first group are able to accumulate in the body, and the second ones are removed from it after being dissolved in water, without accumulating. If the permissible dosages of fat-soluble vitamins are exceeded, the result may result in hypervitaminosis, which is no less a health hazard than hypovitaminosis or vitamin deficiency.
Fat-soluble vitamins are very important for the endocrine system. In this regard, it is worth recalling that absolutely all steroid-type hormones are fat-soluble. Thus, you should not only consume the required amount of fat, but also fat-soluble vitamins.
Vitamin E is natural and artificial. Currently, the advantage of a natural vitamin over artificial counterparts has been scientifically proven. When using the same amount of two types of vitamins, the natural form bypasses the artificial form twice in biological activity.
In addition, the natural vitamin is fully utilized by the body, while the artificial one is only 50%. The remaining half is simply excreted from the body. You can distinguish the natural form from the synthetic one by the label. Natural drugs are referred to as D-alpha-tocopherol, and synthetic drugs are referred to as DL-alpha-tocopherol.
Vitamin E as an antioxidant
Some athletes underestimate the importance of antioxidants in the process of building muscle tissue. During training sessions, the appearance of free radicals is accelerated, which damage tissues, which leads to a loss of gained mass and a deterioration in appearance. In addition, free radicals accelerate the synthesis of anti-inflammatory cytokines.
These cellular molecules help to reduce the production of the main hormones needed for tissue growth - growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor-1.
If you use special antioxidant supplements before starting a training session (this can be done after training), you can limit the synthesis of free radicals, thereby accelerating tissue recovery and growth.
It is an antioxidant that vitamin E is, and one of the most powerful. It is also worth noting that it not only helps to accelerate the growth of muscle tissue mass and prevents their destruction, but also improves the functioning of the cardiovascular system, increases immunity and prevents the development of cancer.
The synthetic drug has already been sold in pharmacies, but recently products containing natural vitamin E have begun to appear.
Features of the use of vitamin E in sports
Now that the role of vitamin E in sports has become clear, it is necessary to talk about it in more detail. The term "vitamin E" refers to a whole group of compounds, also known as tocopherols and tocotrienols. They all have four different structures (isomers) designated alpha, beta, gamma, and delta.
Each of the above compounds has an antioxidant effect on the body of varying strength. Alphatocopherol is considered the most powerful of all. This explains the use of this compound in most supplements. But do not think that the rest of the substances are not useful. Each of them has a certain effect on the body. According to recent studies, the most effective is the use of a complex of all isomers.
Vitamin E is mainly found in plant foods. Most of all tocopherols in their composition contain cottonseed, soy, sea buckthorn, sunflower, peanut and corn oils. The most valuable of all these foods in terms of vitamin E content is sunflower oil.
Both legumes and grains contain quite a lot of substance, and among vegetables the best products are asparagus, tomatoes, parsley tops, lettuce and rosehip seeds. Vitamin E is also present in meat, eggs, milk and beef liver.
It should be noted that vitamin E is a very stable compound and is not destroyed even when exposed to alkalis and acids. Also, vitamin E can withstand boiling and heating up to 200 degrees for three hours. From this we can conclude that tocopherols are preserved during heat treatment and canning.
For example, gammatocopherol stops the development of cancer cells, and alphatocopherol can provide strong neuroprotection. It is also worth noting that alphatocopherol can lower the levels of other isomers in the body.
There are currently two additives with the highest ORAC, Natural Isomer-E (manufactured by Pinnacle) and Isomer-E (manufactured by GNC). These drugs are 10,000% more effective in fighting free radicals than artificial forms of the vitamin.
They are also 100% superior in these properties to other natural forms of vitamin E. To meet the needs of the body, it is necessary to take about 400 IU of vitamin before the start or at the end of the session, which will provide the body with all 8 isomers.
How to use vitamin E in sports - watch the video:
As can be understood from all of the above, vitamin E plays an important role in sports and should not be neglected. This will not only increase the efficiency of your workouts, but also provide the body with additional protection. Improving immunity, preventing cancer and improving vision are just a small part of the properties that vitamin E has.
