Natural-E

Better Nutrition, Sept, 2004

Ever looked at your vitamin E label and wondered about the prefix in front of your alpha-tocopherol--a "d", an "l" or a "dl"? Each contains a form of alpha-tocopherol. The "dl" in dl-alpha-tocopherol means the bottle contains a mixture of the "d" and "l" forms of this antioxidant vitamin. The "d" is natural.

The "l" is synthetic. There is no difference in chemical composition between the natural and synthetic forms of other vitamins. But studies indicate that the body can absorb natural vitamin E--d-alpha-tocopherol--more effectively than the cheaper, synthetic version.