Enhance your muscle growth: nutrition science boosting your vitamin E intake lets your hard-trained body rebuild itself rapidly. Result? You get bigger, faster - Personal Trainer

Men's Fitness, March, 2002 by Joseph Wuebben

SUPPLEMENT OPTIONS

Deciphering the different forms of vitamin E often requires advanced biochemistry. Here we offer simple explanations of the most common types of E supplements on the market.

d-alpha tocopherol: By far the most extensively studied form of vitamin E, this natural antioxidant is what you find in most E products. You can't go wrong supplementing alpha.

Price: Approximately $15 for 100 capsules of 400 IU.

d-gamma tocopherol: Found in "mixed tocopherol" products, it's not as widely used as alpha, but gamma is gaining recognition as being equally effective, and may have benefits all its own.

Price: Approximately $15 for 100 capsules of 400 IU.

d-alpha tocopheryl acetate and succinate: Acetate and succinate are simply additives that improve shelf life. They make it easier to put vitamin E into tablets and gel capsules, but have no effect on absorption or efficacy.

Price: Approximately $20 for 50 capsules of 400 IU.

dl-alpha tocopherol: The synthetic form of d-alpha tocopherol. Although less expensive, it's also less biologically active than its natural counterpart. If you notice "dl" rather than "d" at the beginning of the name, you know it's synthetic.

Price: Approximately $10 for 180 capsules of 400 IU.

Tocotrienols: Not as researched as tocopherols, tocotrienols are most likely no better or worse than their more popular brethren.

Price: Approximately $30 to $40 for 100 capsules of 400 IU.