Hi everyone I'm Monica Reinagel and you're listening to the nutrition

Divas quick and dirty tips for eating well and feeling fabulous. This week I

want to shine the spotlight on Vitamin E, a nutrient that doesn't

get nearly enough attention. Not only does it have a host of important benefits, but it's

one of the most common nutrient shortfalls.

Although you don't need all that much, just 15 milligrams a day, nine out of

ten Americans still fall short on Vitamin E.

So let's take a closer look at this overlooked nutrient, what it is, what it does for you, and

how to get more of it.

Before we dig in though, here's something fun.

As part of the Quick and Dirty Tips Summer Book Club, I'm giving away two copies of my book,

Secrets for a Healthy Diet, one for you and one for a friend.

Just go to quick and dirty tips.com slash sweeps to enter.

That's quick and dirty tips.com slash sweeps.

When people talk about Vitamin E, they're usually referring to the compound known as Alpha Tocophiral. However, there are seven other forms of Vitamin E. There's beta, gamma, and delta tachophiral, and then there's

Alpha, beta, gamma, and delta tochotryanol. At least that's what I learned in nutrition school.

But since then, they've actually added two more forms,

Epsilon Tocofural and Epsilon Tocotryanol.

This was right about the same time that they decided we actually only had eight planets in our solar system and not nine as we did when I was in grade school.

I'm telling you, it's hard to keep up.

In any case, all the forms of Vitamin E are fat-soluble antioxidants.

However, they appear to have several different functions in the body, some of which have nothing to do with fighting free radicals. Now we know the most about

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