So let’s see how Vitamin E can help our bodies overall, not just our skin.

By getting your daily recommended dose of Vitamin E you may prevent or help in the treatment of:

* Heart disease

* Asthma

* Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease

* Cataracts and other eye conditions

* Different types of cancer

* Metabolic conditions like diabetes

* Menstrual cramps

* Skin conditions

However, despite all these great health benefits, people, especially women, mostly take vitamin E for their skin.  

As an antioxidant, it helps to reduce the signs of aging such as dry skin (psoriasis), wrinkles, age spots and scars.  

Vitamin E can help the skin to retain a balanced moisture level that may become unbalanced from the use of harsh cleaning solutions.  With more water and oil in your skin, it appears plump and vibrant like a healthy organ should. It can also help against cold weather, salt water and wind, chlorine in swimming pools, and other things that can cause dry skin.

Many use vitamin E for scars because Vitamin E softens the skin and speeds healing.  These scars could be from burns, stretch marks (from childbirth or weight training), or surgery.    Over time, the appearance of these scars is reduced.

Vitamin E can also help dry, brittle hair, through conditioners and oils.

Vitamin E plays a major role in the health of your body.  Like anything else, getting your vitamins from food is best, and use supplements if your doctor recommends it.

We all know we need vitamins, but how do they function in our bodies? Our bodies need a variety of nutrients such as vitamins and minerals to keep us feeling good.  One of these key vitamins is vitamin E.  This vitamin is good for your overall health, but is especially good in relation to healthy skin.

Vitamin E is an antioxidant. Antioxidants fight the effects of free radicals.  Free radicals are produced from the environment through pollution, smoking, the foods we eat, the chemicals we ingest, and the simple process of aging.  

Antioxidants neutralize these free radicals before they can do damage.  This is especially important because free radicals can wreak havoc on your body, and are responsible for causing conditions like heart disease and cancer.

You can get vitamin E in lotions and cream for direct contact with the skin. It is good for treating scars, stretch marks, and helping keep a good moisture balance in the skin all year round, especially in the winter.

Supplements give you concentrated Vitamin E to benefit the entire body.  Vitamin E is also found in foods like nuts, seeds, wheat germ and vegetable oils.  The best form of vitamin E to get is alpha-tocopherol in its alcohol form, and not as acetate.

The best source for vitamin E is food.  Be careful here, though.  Processed foods can cause the loss of vitamin and minerals including vitamin E.  You should eat foods in their natural form with as little processing as possible for maximum benefit.

Why is vitamin E so important to the body?  For one, it is a fat-soluble vitamin, meaning that it can incorporate itself into the cellular wall, not get washed out of the body like B vitamins can (they are water soluble).

Vitamin E protects body cells from breakdown and thus the breakdown of other body tissues.  It also protects vitamin A while it does its job in the body.

Continued in Part II.