Cracked: How to quadruple lifesaving antioxidant benefits

There’s a good chance your body’s struggling to absorb an important antioxidant — vitamin E.

Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin, which means your body can only absorb it in conjunction with fat. That makes it harder to absorb than water-soluble vitamins like the B vitamins and vitamin C. Your weight, health, diet and the type of vitamin E you’re ingesting can impact how well you’re absorbing it too…

People with metabolic syndrome, people with inflammatory bowel disease, people on low-fat diets, people who rely on vitamin E supplements and people who are overweight may miss out on the benefits of this powerful antioxidant “weight loss” vitamin… all because it isn’t finding its way into their tissues.

But even if you don’t fall into any of these categories, there’s still a possibility your body’s not getting enough vitamin E. Vitamin E is the second most under-consumed nutrient in the average American diet, after all.

And if you’re not getting enough vitamin E, you’re putting your body at a major disadvantage. Vitamin E has impressive antioxidant and anti-inflammatory abilities that can fight the free radicals that cause diseases like heart disease, Alzheimer’s, eye disease and even cancer. It can also boost your immune system, improve blood flow and prevent blood clots.

Luckily, the latest research shows there’s a simple and delicious way to get more vitamin E into your body ASAP. All you have to do is…

Eat more eggs

Now, eggs themselves only contain small amounts of vitamin E. But researchers from Purdue University found that if you eat vitamin E-rich foods and eggs together, you’ll absorb the vitamin E in your food better. In fact, researchers found that adding three eggs to a salad filled with vitamin E-rich greens increases your vitamin E absorption four-to seven-fold.

That’s great news because synthetic vitamin E, what you find in most vitamin supplements, is less effective that natural vitamin E. But what is it about eggs that can solve your vitamin E absorption issues?

Well, because vitamin E is a fat-soluble nutrient. And eggs, of course, contain a lot of fat.

Now, a lot of foods naturally contain a combination of vitamin E and fat, which makes them easier to absorb (think almonds, avocados, sunflower oil, coconut oil and olive oil). But low-fat, vitamin E-rich foods like Swiss chard, spinach and kale need the help of fatty friends, like eggs, to deliver their vitamin E to your body.

But there’s more good news: It turns out salad and eggs are…

The dynamic duo of antioxidant absorption

A previous study conducted by these same researchers also showed that eggs can help you absorb carotenoids in your salad too. Carotenoids are the antioxidants found in red, yellow and orange vegetables. And if you eat these vegetables with eggs you increase your antioxidant absorption nearly four-fold.

Research has also come to light that puts the cholesterol lie surrounding eggs to bed.

So next time you make a salad, fill it with dark leafy greens and carotenoid-filled veggies like tomatoes, bell pepper and carrots — but don’t forget to add a hard-boiled egg or two to the top to get a 400 percent nutrient boost. It’s a superfood combo that will keep you disease-free for years to come.

Sources:

1. “Vitamin E.” National Institutes of Health. https://ods.od.nih.gov. Retrieved October 25, 2016.

2. “Vitamin E.” University of Maryland Medical Center. http://umm.edu. Retrieved October 25, 2016.

3. E. Kim, et al. “Egg Consumption Increases Vitamin E Absorption from Co-Consumed Raw Mixed Vegetables in Healthy Young Men.” Journal of Nutrition, 2016.

4. E. Kim, et al. “Effects of Egg Consumption on Carotenoid Absorption from Co-consumed, Raw Vegetables.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2015.