ABSTRACT
Vitamin E is a generic name for the family of eight major and four minor compounds that have been found to possess vitamin E activity. The major compounds are: d-α-tocopherol, d-β-tocopherol, dγ-tocopherol, d-δ-tocopherol, and d-α-tocotrienol d-β-tocotrienol and d-γ-tocotrienol. Essentially, the family of vitamin E compounds primarily found in cell membranes and blood plasma is a major lipid-soluble chain-breaking antioxidant. A prime difference between tocopherol and tocotrienol is that the latter possesses three double bonds in its isoprenoid side chain: tocopherol has a saturated hydrocarbon phytyl tail, while tocotrienol has an unsaturated farnesyl isoprenoid tail. This 6-hydroxychroman moiety with a lipid-soluble side chain constitutes what is called vitamin E. Another difference is that tocopherols do not have tocotrienol’s cholesterol-lowering properties and may actually interfere with its cholesterol-lowering activity (Qureshi et al., 1996; Tan, 2005). See Figure 1.1.
