Expert Q&A

	By Christina Pirello Christina Pirello is the host of public television's Christina Cooks series, and the author of Cooking the Whole Foods Way (HP Trade, 1997), Christina Cooks (HP Trade, 2004) and Glow (HP Trade, 2001).

I've been told to increase my vitamin E intake. Should I take a supplement, or are certain foods better options?

Vitamin E is prized for its benefits to our health that include inhibiting free radical damage in the body, which causes cellular damage and tissue breakdown. Vitamin E is a fat-soluble nutrient that works in the body to prevent the breakdown of primarily vitamin A and essential fatty acids in our bodies.

Of course, you can supplement vitamin E, but you can also find rich sources of it in your daily food choices. Vegetable oils, dark, green leafy vegetables and nuts are some of the richest sources of this valuable nutrient in our daily diet.

The recommended daily allowance of vitamin E in our daily diets look like this: 8 mg per day for women and 10 mg per day for men. Easy to get in our diets, vitamin E can be destroyed in food preparation, so most processed foods will not give you what you need. Yes, it's back to the kitchen, cooking fresh food to maintain the most nutrients in what you eat.

Americans get 62 percent of their vitamin E from oils and fats, but be sure to use good quality oils, like extra-virgin olive oil, hempseed oil, avocado oil and nut oils. Choose from kale, collards, bok choy, broccoli, arugula, watercress or any other dark, leafy green to get the vitamin E you need. And then there are nuts, seeds and beans – almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pine nuts, sesame, pumpkin and sunflower seeds or any kind of dried bean or legume will provide rich sources of vitamin E as well.

So pop a pill or saute broccoli with toasted walnuts in olive oil. You decide!

View more Q&A by this Expert