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Vitamin E hilarity
  • Curses
    So I just finished a 5-week ministudy that looked at "natural" preservative efficacy as compared to a paraben control. Due to lab restrictions and a $20 budget, I ended up only looking at tea tree oil & vitamin E. Not only did the results show that the rate of growth of S. aureus and P. aeruginosa were higher with TTO and VE, but the VE tubes were actually more overgrown than the negative control (no preservative at all)! I know VE is an antioxidant, so it can slow the rancidity of oils to a certain extent, but I get really sick of seeing cottage formuale and forum posts extolling its virtues as a preservative against microbes. Still, I wasn't expecting it to enhance bacterial growth. I'm mining PubMed at the moment, but if anyone here knows offhand of any research that backs up my finding, I'd be much appreciated if you could point me in the right direction!

    P.S. Long time, no see, BB's!
  • kelvinwaugh
    Vitamin E, also known as tocopherol, is a fat-soluble vitamin that is an essential nutrient for humans. The benefits of vitamin e for healthy skin care also include its ability to regulate vitamin a in the body, which itself is important for healthy skin. Vitamin E for hair growth is beneficial because vitamin E has the effect of a scalp massage all the time.
  • tom_guy85
    and what relevance does that have to Curses original post? Did you just copy and paste WIkipedia?
  • tom_guy85
    wow, random angry moment there, sorry. Not sure, as boilogy is not my forte but I'm read in basic microbiology that prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells have similar internal metabolic pathways and since tocopherols inhibit free radical accumulation in human tissue then it may appear the same for certain strains of bacteria and fungi. However, this is merely my speculation and would be good to find out more.

    Though the idea of using Vit E as a preservative in an antimicrobial sense is quite amusing, despite the amount of phenol groups on it, which we know is a great antimicrobial.

    It's nice to see people documenting these findings on here. Keep up the good work Curses
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