From Eliz

Wondering which form a nutrient to use? I will be highlighting various ones. Let me know your requests!

Nutrient Highlight - Vitamin E

Both Food Processor and Genesis software products provide Vitamin E in four different units:

Vitamin E alpha-tocopherol
The DRI standard unit

Vitamin E IU
The labelling standard unit

Vitamin E alpha-tocopherol equivalents (aTE)
The 1998 RDA standard unit
This is no longer used in the US and is kept in the software for legacy purposes only.

Vitamin E mg
The total Vitamin E from all forms (alpha, beta, gama, delta)
This is no longer used in the US and is kept in the software for legacy purposes only.

Typically, our data sources provide Vitamin E data in either mg alpha-tocopherol or IU units. We convert between these units mathematically as we add individual food items to the database, so that both units are available for you to use. We use this formula for converting:

1 IU Vitamin E = 0.67 mg RRR-alpha-tocopherol (natural)

1 IU Vitamin E = 0.45 mg all rac alpha-tocopherol (synthetic)

Elizabeth eliz@esha.com

Nutrition Department Manager Elizabeth Braithwaite, MPH, RD, has worked in the field of nutrition for more than 25 years. For the past 20 years she has specialized in nutritional software and databases, lending her expertise to the ever-changing field of nutrition research.