Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Getting Tocotrienols from Natural Food Sources: Is It Possible?


Barley is a decent source of tocotrienols. (Photo by nakae)

In my previous post about tocotrienols – a form of vitamin E – I mentioned I've begun taking a tocotrienol supplement to see whether it has an effect on hair growth.

If you're like me, you're probably wondering whether it's possible to skip the supplement and get tocotrienols from natural foods instead. In this post, I'm going to answer that question by looking at some of the studies.

Fruits and vegetables

A study by Chun et al. measured the tocotrienol content of tens of different fruits and vegetables sold in the United States. The results are a pretty depressing read: even the foods that scored the highest are still very low in their tocotrienol content. None of them are near the amounts found in the supplements currently available.

Among fruit, the winner was coconut, which had 0.79 mg of alpha-tocotrienols and 0.18 of gamma-tocotrienols per 100 grams. The second place went to cranberry with a gamma-tocotrienol content of 0.33 mg per 100 g. This means that to equal the amounts in Toco-Sorb and Toco-8, you'd have to consume about ten kilos of coconut or more than a hundred kilos of cranberry.

The winner of the vegetable category was frozen & blanched corn, which had 0.38 mg of alpha-tocotrienols and 1.02 mg of gamma-tocotrienols per 100 g. Canned corn kernels fared pretty well, too, with 0.12 mg of alpha-tocotrienols and 1.30 mg of gamma-tocotrienols. Still, you'd have to consume ridiculous amounts of these as well to get tocotrienols in any meaningful doses.

The study didn't mention beta-tocotrienols and delta-tocotrienols at all, but it's probably safe to say that their amounts were not that significant either.

Animal products

Compared to the dishearteningly low tocotrienol levels of fruits and vegetables, animal products don't seem to be much better. Ye et al. report:

Samples included raw and cooked bacon, all beef hot dogs, raw and braised pork loins, raw and pan fried pork liver, raw chicken, chicken hot dogs, chicken nuggets, patties and tenders, frozen, glazed chicken wings, and raw and baked Orange Roughy and Tilapia fillets, canned chunk light tuna and fish sticks. The data represents analysis of 130 samples collected through USDA sampling protocols.

Alpha- and gamma-tocotrienols were measurable in some chicken, processed chicken, bacon and pork loin but at levels usually less than 0.1 mg/100g. Frozen chicken patties (cooked and uncooked) contained more than 0.4 mg/100g alpha- and gamma-tocotrienol.

So most meat has just as little tocotrienols as fruits and vegetables. Who's ready for ten kilos of uncooked chicken patties?

Oils and fats

According to Chiew et al., crude palm oil contains 21.2 mg of alpha-tocotrienol, 30.8 mg of beta-tocotrienol, 63.0 mg of delta-tocotrienol and 8.3 mg of gamma-tocotrienol per 100 grams. During the refining process the amounts are reduced, but even refined palm oil beats fresh fruits, fresh vegetables and animal products.

I was unable to find actual studies on the tocotrienol content of other oils, but looking at the helpful figure over at tocotrienol.org, palm oil is clearly the best one in the fat group. Coconut oil the second best, but it's still miles away from palm oil and doesn't contain any delta-tocotrienols.

The rest of the oils, including my favourite, the ubiquitous olive oil, are absolutely useless in this regard.

Grains and seeds

The tocotrienol content of some grains and seeds, on the other hand, looks somewhat better.

A study by Frega et al. mentions that annatto seeds contain a respectable 140-147 mg of delta-tocotrienols per 100 g. Toco-Sorb and Toco-8 only contain about 15 mg of delta-tocotrienols, so a mere 10 grams of annatto seeds would be enough to get an equal amount.

However, the authors mention that most of the tocotrienols were of the delta form, so it might not compare to the supplements in other areas. Looking at annatto supplements this seems to be the case: usually 90% of tocotrienols in annatto seeds are delta-tocotrienols, while 10% are alpha-tocopherols.

According to tocotrienol.org, rice bran has 23.6 mg of alpha-tocotrienols and 34.9 mg of gamma-tocotrienols per 100 g. Barley has 67 mg of alpha-tocotrienols and 12.0 mg of both beta- and gamma-tocotrienols. These are much higher amounts than fruits, vegetables and meats have, but neither contain delta-tocotrienols. They're also not a particularly good choice if you're on any kind of low-carb diet, like me.

Conclusion

As you can see, getting tocotrienols from food sources is problematic. Fresh fruits and vegetables contain so little tocotrienols that we can just forget about them. Animal products don't seem to be of much help either.

The first thing that shows any promise is palm oil. This is hardly surprising, since Toco-Sorb and Toco-8 are both made from palm fruit extract. Still, you'd have to eat about 200 grams (about one cup) of palm oil to match the extracts used in the supplements. This would be almost 1,900 kcal in energy, so unless your diet consists of only palm oil (okay, you could throw in a few chicken patties as well), this is an unfeasible choice.

The next possible option are annatto seeds, which have 15 mg of delta-tocotrienol (the amount used in the supplements) per 15 grams. That's only 1-2 tablespoons. The problem with annatto is that it only has delta-tocotrienol and a small amount of alpha-tocotrienol.

Barley is also a decent choice, with 100 grams providing 67 mg of alpha-tocotrienol and a bit of beta- and gamma-tocotrienol. As you may know if you've read my blog, I'm not a big fan of eating grains and cereals, but if you wished to go this route, combining barley and annatto seeds looks like a viable option.

For now, I'm sticking with the supplements.



Digg Technorati del.icio.us Stumbleupon Reddit Blinklist Furl Yahoo

8 kommenttia:

Image Consultant William Cane May 17, 2010 at 7:33 PM  

This is a terrific post with excellent research and analysis on a very important subject. Very few people realize the importance of tocotrienols. Many thanks for writing and publishing this helpful information.

Anonymous August 27, 2010 at 6:35 AM  

Wow...Now I don't have to surf for any more info on Tocotrienols. Your well-researched essay popped up early in my search and answered all my food questions and even contained a bunch of info on the topic that I hadn't even thought of...although perhaps beer and rye whiskey might be concentrated forms...I can always hope!

Unknown November 16, 2010 at 12:37 AM  

Good information... I work with delta tocotrienols and thier role in fatty liver reversal.

Unknown November 16, 2010 at 12:39 AM  

I am glad to find a post which is so simple to understand. I am Phd student in the feild of nutrition.

Erin Hartensveld, MSRD December 12, 2011 at 8:08 PM  

I hear what you are saying. However, the estimated amount of tocotrienols needed (when in their natural form) is met by eating only a few good food sources per day. Please see the following link for more information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_E

Anonymous May 13, 2012 at 7:24 AM  

check this product out

http://www.s
Swanson Ultra
Double Strength Tocotrienols

4 Reviews Write a Review
Share on more Share on email Share on print
SWANSON $19.99
Item #: SWU680
Availability: In Stock
100 mg 60 Liq Caps
Liq Caps size = O*, Pill Size Guide
Quantity:

Add to Favorites
Swanson Ultra Double-Strength Tocotrienols
Featuring delta and gamma tocotrienols from annatto
Tocotrienols have up to 50 times the antioxidant potential of tocopherols
Our new Swanson Ultra® Double-Strength Tocotrienols supplement delivers delta and gamma tocotrienols from annatto in easy-to-swallow liquid capsules. The vitamin E family consists of tocopherols and tocotrienols, with alpha-tocopherol as the most commonly found form of vitamin E. However, tocotrienols have up to 50 times the antioxidant potential of tocopherols, and the latest research indicates that delta fractions (delta-tocotrienols) are the most beneficial for supporting healthy cholesterol, triglycerides—already within the normal range—and cellular health. Swanson Ultra Tocotrienols features DeltaGold, derived from annatto, the only plant known to feature pure tocotrienols without tocopherols. It is concentrated to contain a minimum 85% delta-tocotrienols and 8% gamma-tocotrienols.

Product Label Reviews 7 Leaf Guarantee
Supplement Facts
Serving Size 1 Liquid Capsule
Amount Per Serving % Daily Value
Tocotrienols
(from DeltaGold® tocotrienols from annatto)
100 mg *
delta-Tocotrienols minimum 85%
gamma-Tocotrienols minimum 8%
*Daily Value not established.

Anonymous August 28, 2013 at 6:36 PM  

Your excellent post provided some new references for me - thanks.

However at one point there might be a mistake: you said "Barley is also a decent choice, with 100 grams providing 67 mg of alpha-tocotrienol". However at USDA I found 22-92mg T3 in barley *oil* (barley has only some 2% oil). Where's the error?

regards, Ingo

Lasse April 20, 2016 at 12:13 AM  

Great post. Also in 2016. I do miss however, that you supplied the basic information on the refs that you used. Now a few years later, some of the links are dead and it is not possible to know which paper you were using as reference. I am missing the Chiew et.al. ref in particular. Thanks.

  © Blogger template 'Perfection' by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP