Ray Peat on Vitamin E

Short answer: Ray Peat described vitamin E as an estrogen antagonist, an energy promoter and an anti-inflammatory. He wrote that its real job is to protect against the damage done by polyunsaturated fats, estrogen and iron.

What Ray Peat wrote about vitamin e

He told the history. Vitamin E was discovered in rats made infertile by a diet of rancid lard and cod liver oil, both loaded with polyunsaturated fat. Source: Vitamin E: Estrogen antagonist, energy promoter, and anti-inflammatory

Early researchers called it the progesterone-sparing agent, because so many of its antiestrogenic effects resemble progesterone's. Source: Vitamin E: Estrogen antagonist, energy promoter, and anti-inflammatory

Estrogen raises calcium inside the cell and activates protein kinase C. Vitamin E generally does the opposite. Source: Vitamin E: Estrogen antagonist, energy promoter, and anti-inflammatory

The Shute brothers began in the 1930s by using vitamin E against estrogen's clot-promoting effect, and that led them to its use in heart disease. He wrote that medicine spent decades fighting it. Source: Multiple Sclerosis and other hormone related brain syndromes, Cholesterol, longevity, intelligence, and health

He saw its large effective doses as a measure of our exposure to unsaturated fats. Vitamin E, aspirin and niacinamide are, in his words, therapeutic in unnaturally large amounts for that reason. Source: Regeneration and degeneration: Types of inflammation change with aging

Its protection against polyunsaturated fat is only partial, so he never treated it as a license to eat seed oils. Source: The Great Fish Oil Experiment

Iron destroys vitamin E, so the need for it rises with iron intake and with age. Deficiency speeds up the formation of age pigment. Source: Iron's Dangers, Fats, functions & malfunctions

What he suggested in practice

• About 100 units a day is the amount he mentions for covering an occasional restaurant meal and for iron.
• Not at the same time as iron-rich food.
• He used natural vitamin E, and used it as the solvent for progesterone.
• First of all, cut the polyunsaturated fat that creates the need.

Where he wrote about it

This topic comes up in 45 of the articles on his site. These are the most relevant ones:

• Vitamin E: Estrogen antagonist, energy promoter, and anti-inflammatory · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Progesterone Deceptions · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Oils in Context · original on raypeat.com ↗
• The transparency of life: Cataracts as a model of age-related disease · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Aspirin, brain and cancer · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Iron's Dangers · original on raypeat.com ↗
• The Great Fish Oil Experiment · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Bleeding, clotting, cancer · original on raypeat.com ↗

My take

Vitamin E is the supplement I would keep if I could keep only one. I take a full-spectrum product with all four tocopherols and no seed oil in it. This is the one I use:

Quick answers

What did Ray Peat say about vitamin E?

That it is an estrogen antagonist and anti-inflammatory whose main role is to protect against polyunsaturated fats, estrogen and iron.

How much vitamin E did Ray Peat mention?

About 100 units a day in his articles on iron and on unsaturated oils.

Why did Ray Peat link vitamin E and progesterone?

Early researchers called vitamin E the progesterone-sparing agent because its effects against estrogen resemble those of progesterone, and he dissolved progesterone in vitamin E for better absorption.