Tolerance and safety of vitamin E: a toxicological position report.
From numerous publications on the "prophylactic" and "therapeutic" use of vitamin E, it may be concluded that the toxicity of vitamin E is very low. It has been demonstrated in animal experiments that vitamin E has neither mutagenic, teratogenic nor carcinogenic properties. Based on studies in humans, a daily dosage of 100-300 mg vitamin E can be considered harmless from a toxicological point of view. Using double-blind studies involving a large number of subjects, it has been demonstrated that large oral doses of up to 3,200 USP-Units/day led to no consistent adverse effects. From a large body of published data, dosage ranges have been deduced which can be characterized as safe for human subjects even where their use extends over a long period of time. It should, however, be noted that oral intake of high levels of vitamin E can exacerbate the blood coagulation defect of vitamin K deficiency caused by malabsorption or anticoagulant therapy. High levels of vitamin E intake are, therefore, contraindicated in these subjects.
Kappus
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Department of Dermatology, Free University of Berlin, Rudolf Virchow Clinic, Germany.
Diplock
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AT
D000818:Animals; D004361:Drug Tolerance; D005609:Free Radicals; D006801:Humans; D012449:Safety; D014810:Vitamin E / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D005609:Free Radicals; D014810:Vitamin E