Growing your culinary crops is fun, delicious, and, perhaps most importantly, healthy! All of them contain vitamins and minerals.
This vital nutrient performs a variety of tasks in our bodies and as a fact, you can easily increase your daily intake by cultivating plant-based sources in your backyard and reaping the benefits.
But which ones contain the most vitamin E? We’re reading along because this article will go into great detail about it.
What Is Vitamin E?
Though vitamin E is commonly regarded as a single molecule, it is a collection of eight fat-soluble molecules with potent antioxidant properties.
Alpha-tocopherol is the chemical form of alpha-tocopherol that best fits the nutritional needs of humans.
Vitamin E can be found in a variety of foods, including seeds, nuts, certain vegetables, and fortified meals. It’s also available as a dietary supplement.
It has a variety of functions in your body. It’s well recognized for its antioxidant properties, which protect your cells from oxidative damage by neutralizing dangerous chemicals known as free radicals.
It’s also necessary for immunological function and cellular signaling. Bearing all this in mind, let us now look at 5 top sources of vitamin E we can grow at home.
Top Homegrown Vitamin E Plants
1. Spinach
Naturally, we’d be negligent if we didn’t include some conventional garden-fresh vegetables in this article. Vitamin E is abundant in spinach, as is a range of vitamins and minerals.
Because spinach wilts and shrinks substantially when cooked, the figures listed above are for volume after cooking. If you like big spinach salads, one cup of raw spinach has 0.5 milligrams
A half-cup of boiling spinach has 2 milligrams or 13% of the daily requirement. Sauteing your spinach rather than boiling it retains a small amount of the vitamin E lost in the cooking liquid, with 2.1 milligrams in a half-cup dose cooked this way.
2. Nuts From Trees
Aside from seeds, tree nuts, particularly almonds and hazelnuts, can be good sources.
Almonds have 7 milligrams of vitamin E per ounce, which is 45 percent of the daily dose, and hazelnuts have 5 milligrams, which is 29 percent of the daily value.
On a soft-focus background, a close-up square image of almonds growing on a tree in a home orchard.
This form of the almond tree is ideal for home orchards because it does not grow as large as other varieties.
3. Avocados
In my opinion, any excuse to consume extra guacamole is acceptable. One medium avocado has 2.6 milligrams of potassium, which is 20 percent of the daily intake.
In this example, the milky green delicacy grows on trees in warmer areas, though there are also cold tolerant types available.
4. Peanuts
If you’re a peanut butter addict like me, you’ll be overjoyed to find peanuts on this list!
Vitamin E is found in 2.2 milligrams per ounce of nuts, which is a small percentage of your daily value. Remember that anything with a percentage of more than 15 is considered a good source.
Try growing your peanuts instead of buying them in a jar. Peanuts require a warm temperature in Zones 8-12 to produce edible nuts, but they can also be grown inside in pots if you reside in a cooler zone.
5. Sunflower Seeds
When roasted, the seeds of this bright blossom make a delightful snack. They also contain approximately half of the daily recommended amount of vitamin E! 7.4 milligrams are found in one ounce of seeds.
Sunflower flowers produce enormous heads with a lot of seeds, which are ideal for obtaining your daily dose. Burpee has seeds for sale.
6. Broccoli
Broccoli, a traditional cruciferous favourite, is another excellent choice. A half-cup of boiled water contains 1.2 milligrams or roughly 8% of the daily requirement.
Raw broccoli has only 0.7 milligrams per cup, however, sauteed broccoli has a similar quantity. The task of cultivating your own at home, if you haven’t previously, can be extremely satisfying.
Health Benefits Of Vitamin E
Supplementing with vitamin E has also been related to several other health advantages, including:
- Skin health may be improved.
Vitamin E supplements may be beneficial for people who suffer from skin conditions like eczema. However, present data is limited, and more research is required to learn more about this possible advantage.
- It may help with cognitive wellness.
Taking vitamin E supplements and maintaining appropriate vitamin E levels may help guard against cognitive deterioration. However, it is still unknown whether the supplements help persons with cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.
- The elderly will benefit.
Because vitamin E performs key tasks in health, such as decreasing inflammation and promoting immune function, supplements may aid those who have rising demands or don’t get enough vitamin E in their meals, such as certain older people.
- The function of the lungs may be improved.
Vitamin E supplements have been shown in studies to help children and adults with lung function and asthma symptoms.
- It may also help to prevent age-related macular degeneration, though most research in this area has utilized vitamin E in combination with other minerals including beta-carotene, zinc, and copper.
The researchers concluded that taking the recommended daily quantity of vitamin D, preferably from natural dietary sources, is beneficial and may help to prevent certain types of age-related deterioration.
Signs Of Vitamin E Deficiency
Because vitamin E is present in a variety of foods and supplements, vitamin E insufficiency is unusual in the United States. When people have digestive issues or can’t absorb fat properly, they can develop a vitamin E deficiency (pancreatitis)
The following are some of the most prevalent symptoms of a deficiency:
- visual impairment due to injury to the retina of the eyes
- Peripheral nerve injury, which generally occurs in the hands or feet, causes weakness or pain.
- a lack of control over one’s movements
- Immune system dysfunction
Conclusion
To boost fat-soluble vitamin absorption, couple vegetables with a source of fat while cooking foods at home to increase vitamin E intake.
Fats are found naturally in nuts, seeds, and avocados, and cooking spinach or broccoli in olive oil increases its availability.
With vitamin E’s antioxidant strength and potential health advantages in mind, growing some of these deliciously healthy top sources in your garden is a great idea!
