Vitamin E deficiency is sneaky, here's how it silently harms you

From numbness and fatigue to immune risks and nerve damage, vitamin E deficiency is more common than we think - and easier to miss

Think of vitamin E as your body’s shield – protecting cells from damage, supporting healing, and keeping your nervous system ticking. But when this shield weakens, the effects aren’t always obvious at first, making it easy for deficiency to slip under the radar until real health issues arise.

 

Spotting the early signs

 

Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin with powerful antioxidant properties. It protects cells from oxidative stress, supports immunity, and helps keep skin and eyes healthy. Vitamin E deficiency can creep up gradually, making it difficult to detect in its early stages. One may experience:

 

• Weakness in muscles
• Minor coordination issues
• Numbness in hands and feet

 

“Some people may also have mild changes in vision, delayed wound healing, or inexplicable fatigue and ‘brain fog.’ Since these symptoms can be attributed to other everyday concerns such as stress or aging, physicians must take extra precautions,” shares Dr Amit Nabar, Director for Emergency Medicine & Community Medicine at S.L. Raheja Fortis Hospital.

 

Reasons behind deficiency

 

Poor dietary intake

 

Deficiency often stems from diets that are very low in fat or that cut out foods naturally rich in vitamin E. Skipping nuts, seeds, vegetable oils, and leafy greens can leave the body short of this vital nutrient. Malnutrition, particularly in parts of the developing world, remains a major risk factor.

 

Fat malabsorption disorders

 

Certain health conditions affect the body’s ability to absorb dietary fats, and with them, fat-soluble vitamins like vitamin E. These include:

 

• Cystic fibrosis: This disorder impacts the pancreas, making it harder to break down and absorb fats, raising the risk of nutrient deficiencies
• Chronic pancreatitis: Damage to the pancreas disrupts fat digestion, which in turn affects vitamin E absorption
• Crohn’s disease: Inflammation of the digestive tract interferes with nutrient uptake, including essential vitamins

 

Genetic disorders

 

Some rare inherited conditions directly impair the metabolism of vitamin E. These include:

 

• Abetalipoproteinemia (impaired fat and fat-soluble vitamin absorption)
• Ataxia (damage to the part of the brain that controls muscle coordination)

 

“Some medications and previous surgeries may also influence absorption of Vitamin E,” said Dr Nabar.

 

The effect on your body

 

Impact on the nervous system

 

One of the more serious consequences of low vitamin E is its effect on the nervous system. “Vitamin E is what helps keep your nerves healthy. If you’re deficient in it, you can get serious problems with your nervous system. You may have some numbness, have trouble balancing, or even issues with eye movement,” said Dr Nabar.

 

Immunity and healing

 

Without adequate levels of vitamin E, the body can struggle to fend off infections and even heal wounds effectively. “A deficiency in vitamin E also compromises your immune system, leaving you open to infections and impairing your body’s recovery after surgery or a wound. Research demonstrates individuals with a deficiency are much more prone to infections, especially respiratory infections,” explained Dr Nabar.

 

Risks of ignoring it

 

Progressive untreated deficiency can lead to:

 

• Irreversible neuropathy (damage or dysfunction of peripheral nerves)
• Coordination problems
• Retinopathy (damage to the blood vessels in retina) with vision loss
• Hemolytic anemia in infants (destruction of red blood cells that happens faster than the body can replace them)
• Cardiomyopathy (a disease of the heart muscle, causing it to become enlarged, thickened, rigid, or weakened)
• Poor pregnancy outcomes

 

Testing for deficiency

 

If the doctor suspects a deficiency, he or she can check for it by measuring vitamin E levels in the blood. “The standard test is serum α-tocopherol, interpreted relative to lipid levels (α-tocopherol:lipid ratio). Monitoring every 3–6 months is advised in active disease, then annually for chronic risk groups,” said Dr Rohit Deshpande, internal medicine specialist at Lilavati Hospital, Mumbai.

 

“Historically, diagnosis depended on catching advanced symptoms or low blood levels of α-tocopherol, but by then, much of the damage may already have occurred. Today, artificial intelligence is changing this paradigm with platforms that integrate genetic insights, dietary patterns, and biomarker trends to detect risk earlier, sometimes months before symptoms develop,” added Sid Das, co-founder of eGenome.ai, a firm working in predictive health technologies.

 

Managing vitamin E deficiency

 

The role of diet

 

While supplements are available, the best approach often starts with food. Accessible sources are sunflower, safflower, soybean, and peanut oils, as well as almonds, peanuts, sunflower seeds, and leafy greens such as spinach. “Even small daily intakes of a handful of nuts or several tablespoons of vegetable oil can make a big difference. Also adding vitamin E to common foods like oils and cereals helps people with limited dietary options get enough of the nutrient,” added Dr Deshpande.

 

Role of supplements

 

Supplements can bridge the gap, but dosage matters. Doctors often recommend tailored approaches based on health history and concurrent medications. “Natural d-alpha-tocopherol is also more easily bioavailable than the synthetic forms. For general health, the adult RDA is ~15 mg/day, achievable through diet alone,” shared Dr Deshpande.

 

In severe cases, doctors may prescribe very high doses of vitamin E (800–1000 mg/day), but this must be carefully monitored as too much can raise the risk of bleeding, especially in patients on blood thinners like warfarin, he said.

 

Bottom line

 

Vitamin E deficiency might not make headlines as often as other nutrient shortages, but it is just as important for overall health. 

   

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This report is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice.