Are you healthy-E-nough?

As a doctor, I often am hounded by extended family and friends asking for tips to good health. However, today, with the world resorting to drastic changes in lifestyle, the answer to this question is becoming increasingly difficult. With hardly any time for a well-balanced nutritious diet and exercise, we deprive ourselves in areas that really matter. We prioritize all else over health. Today, children are turning increasingly addicted to all kinds of junk food. Adults are having a tough time balancing work and personal life. And hence, we inadvertently end up making some bad choices.
It is no wonder, therefore, that there has been a sudden rise in lifestyle diseases like diabetes, hypertension etc.

As for me, I have to shamelessly confess, I have been making a lot of bad choices myself. Neglecting my health had been one of them. So come 2018, I resolved to change that as best as I could.

Years of making mighty resolutions and breaking them by the third day of the new year has taught me to make achievable goals, and so I have decided to keep it real this time...take things slowly.
Accordingly, I have now started putting into personal practice a healthy routine by making necessary modifications in my negligent behavior.

That brings me to what I'm going to discuss today---the importance of vitamin E in daily health routine (as known from textbook, patient, and personal experience. So trust me on this!)

So let's start at the beginning:

What is Vitamin E and why is it needed?

Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin. It has important anti-oxidant properties that protect the cells from damage caused by free radicals. 

So what are free radicals then?

Free radicals are compounds formed by the body during conversion of food to energy. They are also caused due to smoking, alcohol, environmental pollutants, and a variety of other unavoidable processes.  An increase in free radicals causes harmful tissue damage. 

Vitamin E fights the free radicals and hence aids in preventing cell destruction and ageing.

In addition Vitamin E plays a significant role in -

      1. Skin: 

• Vitamin E plays a role in the skin's antioxidant defences. 
•  It protects the skin against harmful ultra violet raysthat have carcinogenic potential
•  Decreases wrinkles
•  Makes skin soft, supple and moisturized.
•  Protects against sun burns
• Promotes collagen, maintains elasticity and thus rejuvenates the skin making it appear glowing and healthy.

        2. Hair

• Helps in restoring the shine and lustre
• Strengthens the hair
• Prevents hair fall

       3. Serves as an anti-coagulant

       4. Reduces muscle soreness and leg  cramps 
Vitamin E has also proven to have beneficial effects in conditions like

      5. Diabetes

      6. Eye disorders-  helps improve vision deficits and conditions like retinopathy, cataract, and age related macular degeneration. 

      7. Cadiomyopathy and heart illnesses

      8. Cancers

     9. Hormonal imbalance, PMS etc

In addition to all the above benefits, Vitamin E helps in strengthening the immune system and protects the body against bacteria and viruses.

Being a Diabetologist, most of my patients come to me with secondary complaints of aching muscles, tiredness, and neuralgic symptoms, and an introduction of Vitamin E supplements like Evion for supervised time periods has shown tremendous improvement. Peripheral neuropathy is one of the most feared complications of Diabetes, and Vitamin E can help reverse changes if deleted early. It also helps reduce balance cholesterol imbalance.
However, one has to be careful not to continue it for prolonged periods especially if on other Vitamin K and anti-platelet medication.

Vitamin E can cause drug interaction with the following medication:

• Cyclosporine
• Niacin
• Oral contraceptive pills
• Warfarin

Hence caution should be exercised in these cases. 
Also, since it is fat-soluble, excess of it can result in a condition called Hypervitaminosis. So I always make it a point to advice my patients not to continue it for prolonged periods. 

The daily recommended dietary allowance for Vitamin E in adults is 15 mgs, (should not exceed the upper permissible limit of 1000 IU/day) and can be obtained from 

dietary sources of the vitamin such as --

• Lettuce
• Pumpkin
• Almonds
• Sweet potato
• Fruits like mango, kiwi, raspberry, cranberry, apricots, black currents
• Avocado
• Spinach
• Collards
• Asparagus
• Soya bean
• Vegetable and nut seed oils
• Olive, sunflower, corn and soyabean oil (rich in tocopherols)
• Palm oil, barley, rice bran (contains tocofrienols)
• Egg yolk
• Margarine

However, if you see signs of Vitamin E deficiency, together with low blood levels, it is advisable to consult your doctor and start on Vitamin E supplements.

As for me, I mostly rely on dietary sources for consumption. However, not so long ago, my blood work showed low levels of the vitamin. I was having symptoms of tiredness, sore muscle, and hair loss. 

It was then that I resorted to #Evion, a brand name for Vitamin E that I had been prescribing to my patients since the last so many years now. There comes a time in every doctor's life that he has to take a dose of his own medicine (literally) and I was confident about Evion. 
As expected, I started showing improvement within a month's time. I observed reduction in hair fall, and my skin had become soft and supple. I was also feeling more active and energetic and was convinced of the improvement my patients felt with Evion supplements.

Since then, I have been using Vitamin E in my moisturizing routine and hair oil massage. And needless to say, I am happy with the results.

MERCK is a trusted pharma company and a pioneer brand of Vitamin E products since 1978. IT has not just launched Evion (in multiple dose strengths like 200, 600, 400) but has also recently come up with a skin cream hat has  has also come up with a skin cream containing Vitamin E and aloe vera, both of which have moisturizing and skin protecting qualities. You no longer need to prick and squeeze Evion capsules for your hair and skin masks. Just buy the cream instead. 

For more information, check here 


Packaged in an aluminium laminated peel-off foil Evion 400 costs only Rs 22.35 for a pack of ten capsules. The Evion skin cream comes in a 60 gms tube pack and is priced at Rs 144 only. Economical, safe, and packed with benefits, I think this is a great deal to attain lustrous hair and healthy skin, the tell-tale signs of a healthy and happy life.

With that, I guess, I've said E-nough.

After all, the proof of  the pudding...