Daily Super ETM is one of our top selling products, setting a new gold standard for vitamin E supplementation. Our specially-prepared formula is high in both gamma and alpha tocotrienol. Alpha tocotrienol is a superior antioxidant that helps to protect cells in the circulatory system. Gamma tocotrienol communicates directly to the liver and positively influences the healthy metabolism of cholesterol, a powerful tool to help attain and maintain proper cholesterol levels.*
About Vitamin E
There are eight naturally occurring forms of vitamin E, four are tocopherols (alpha, beta, delta, and gamma) and four are tocotrienols (alpha, beta, delta, and gamma). The most commonly known form is d-alpha tocopherol, discovered in 1922 during studies related to fertility. Vitamin E has been extensively studied since that time for its role as a fat-soluble antioxidant, especially as it relates to reproductive, neurologic, cardiovascular, and immune system health.*
Research on the tocotrienol forms of vitamin E began in the 1980s. It was discovered that these forms of vitamin E possessed unique biological activity that d-alpha tocopherol does not have.* Various cell and animal studies demonstrated significant immune support, especially related to reproductive health.* This is because tocotrienols have a unique structure containing a short isoprenoid tail with three unsaturated bonds. Tocopherols also have a tail, but it is fully saturated, longer, and stiffer and due to its saturation has less ability to interact in cellular metabolism. This tail is the only difference between a tocotrienol and a tocopherol. The short and flexible tail of the tocotrienols enables them to move about more freely and enter into metabolic function in ways that plain vitamin E does not.* For example, a recent cell study showed that tocotrienols helped estrogen (estradiol) not form epoxides (a significant finding), whereas plain d-alpha tocopherol offered no such benefit.*
In the 1990s extremely high quality forms of tocotrienols from rice bran oil become available for the consumer public. Wellness Resources was one of the first companies to use this novel nutrient and we are glad we did! Our product is specially made so that no filler oils are used and there is a balance of alpha and gamma tocotrienol. Most tocotrienol products are high in only gamma tocotrienol and use a diluent oil to make production easier. Wellness Resources is the only company producing this quality of tocotrienol product.
Alpha Tocotrienol
The different forms of vitamin E are not redundant and do not perform the same biological functions. A variety of cell and animal studies have shown that alpha tocotrienol is extraordinarily protective of the nervous system, whereas d-alpha tocopherol could not compare.* This was partly due to alpha tocotrienol's superior antioxidant activity and partly due to its unique structure and consequent ability to influence natural mechanisms involved with nerve protection.*
Cell studies have also shown that:
- Alpha tocotrienol stabilizes the endothelial cells that line the circulatory system far more than d-alpha tocopherol. It was shown that the isoprenoid tail was partly responsible for this increased protection.*
- Alpha tocotrienols are absorbed into cell membranes seventy times better than d-alpha tocopherol.*
- Alpha tocotrienol protects red blood cells significantly better than d-alpha tocopherol.*
Gamma Tocotrienol
Gamma tocotrienol is being extensively researched for its significant properties regarding cellular health and cholesterol metabolism.*
Gamma tocotrienol has been shown to modulate the NF-kappaB gene signal as well as other signals involved with cellular survival.* Numerous cell studies are showing that gamma tocotrienol is very protective of cells involved with the female and male reproductive systems, and cells in general.*
Gamma tocotrienol communicates with the primary enzyme involved with cholesterol metabolism, HMG CoA reductase.* In normal cholesterol metabolism, the production of cholesterol is self regulating. This is similar to a person at the end of a production line making a phone call back to the person at the front of the line, telling them enough widgets have been made. In cholesterol metabolism this occurs through the production of isoprenoids in one of the branch pathways of normal cholesterol production. Isoprenoids communicate back to the HMG CoA reductase enzyme and tell it to "go home from work for the day, you are no longer needed." As it turns out, the tail of gamma tocotrienol is an isoprenoid that assists in modulating cholesterol production in a natural manner.* Human and animal studies have shown that tocotrienols are an excellent tool to support healthy cholesterol metabolism and maintain healthy cholesterol levels that are already in the normal range.*