If you’ve tracked your food on cronometer, you’ve probably found you are vitamin e deficient. But how much vitamin e do you really need on a wfpb diet?
[Dr. Jeff Novick explains](https://www.drmcdougallforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=6732#p46828):
>Vitamin E recommended levels are based on the intact of poly-unsaturated fats (PUFAs) in the “average” diets, which in the USA, is fairly high. The reason is, one of the main functions of Vit E in the body is to prevent oxidation and PUFA’s oxidize easily. So, if you are following the recommendations here and consuming a lower fat diet with no added oils, your requirement for Vit E will be much lower, possible even 1/3 to 1/2 the DRI/RDA.
>Based on the info below, If the total fat in the diet is 10% and you consume 1800 calories, that is 20 grams of fat. IF this was all PUFA, you would need about 8 mgs/day to have a ratio of Vit E/PUFA of 0.4. As only about 1/2 to 1/3 of it is PUFA, your requirement may be as low as 3-5 mgs a day, which is about 30% of the DRI of 15.
>PS Interesting that in general, Vit E is found in foods that are higher in fat (except for a few green leafies). So, in nature, if you ate more fat, you also got along with it, more Vit E as it occurred in higher amounts in the fattier foods. The Vit E was protecting the food in the plant and protecting you once you ate the food. However, in our modern processed refined diets, we eat foods high in fat, that have the Vit E removed in the processing. The irony of all of this, is that if you want to meet the RDA for Vit E, you usually have to eat some higher fat foods (nuts, seeds). But, then your need for Vit E also goes up, but only because you are now eating a higher fat diet. So, when people recommend eating more nuts/seeds to meet Vit E requirements, they are both “right” and “wrong” at the same time.
TLDR: 0.4mg vitamin e per gram of polyunsaturated fat is optimal.
since plants also use vitamin e to protect fatty acids from oxidation, vitamin e is naturally present alongside PUFAs at roughly this 0.4 ratio.
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