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Rob R. and Jeff J... Ohh gee.... something ELSE to worry 'bout now! Which is the RIGHT, the BEST vitamin E for a Parkie to take? Here I am... innocently taking 800 to 1200 ICUs worth of vitamin E each day depending if there's a bit of residual toe or leg cramping on a given day (and since I began taking vitamin E four years ago there's been hardly ANY cramping) with no thought about what TYPE of vitamin E that was going into my wee body.... Oooops! Let me amend that. There's been four criteria to what kind of vitamin E I buy.... does that brand WORK for me, i.e., no or little cramping, is the capsule small enough for me to comfortably swallow it (have problems with big "horse pills" since the advent of PD), is it a "water release" pill. and is it the CHEAPEST brand available given the above criteria. I've ruled out the most expensive brands because my pharmacist told me that many of the LESS expensive brands are made by the same companies as the expensive ones, and just marketed under another name... Since my nearby drugstore is a national chain, I've been comfortable buying their "in-house brand" pharmaceuticals because their products ARE made by big name companies, according to the pharmacist. So here I sit right now, with a bottle of vitamin E in front of me and for the first time I'm actually READING the label for INGREDIENTS. The first thing I've noticed is that it's dl-alpha Tocopheryl Acetate.... a synthetic. Well I knew that when I bought it. There's also Gelatin, Polysorbate 80, Glycerin, and "may contain vegetable oil." "MAY" contain? Hey wait a minute! I try real hard NOT to add a lotta unnecessary fats into my daily diet (not counting those imbibed from eatin' a pizza every now and then, of course) <grin>. What kind of vegetable oil might be in these vitamins, anyway? And IF this vitamin supplement is SUPPOSED to contain an oil/fat, what kind is used as an alternate to vegetable oil? The vitamin E that I'm taking is a Sav-On Drugstore "house brand," and in looking over the bottle, I see that it indicates it's "distributed by National Procurement & Logistics Company," out of Salt Lake City, Utah. Nowhere on the bottle does it indicate what country the drugs were actually MADE in. That last fact bothers me, 'cause right away I instinctively feel they've got something to hide. Out of curiosity, I just got out a bottle of Motrin (an over-the-counter name-brand ibuprofen) and read the label (with the help of a magnifying glass) <there's enough in small print on that bottle to rival an unabridged copy of Webster's Dictionary!> (grin), and no where on the bottle did it indicate country of original of the contents. Strange... with all clothing bought in the USA buy and nearly every other product as well, the manufacturer is forced by law to indicate what country the product was made in. But apparently with something as important at the drugs we ingest, our government doesn't see THAT as important in needing to list the country a drug was produced in? I can't help but think there's something wrong with this picture, tho I'm not quite able to put my finger on WHAT is wrong with it. Barb Mallut "Lil_Honey" on the PD Chat & ICQ [log in to unmask] ---------- From: PARKINSN: Parkinson's Disease - Information Exchange Network on behalf of Jeff Jones Sent: Sunday, January 19, 1997 10:22 AM To: Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN Subject: Re: Dystonia Cramps & Vit E Good day, At 11:48 AM 1/19/97 -0500, you wrote: >Hey folks: > >However, one important question remains - which Vitamin E is >helping. I know of three different types (and I know that there are more): > >1. d-alpha-tocopheryl-succinate >2. d-alpha-tocopheryl-acetate >3. d-alpha-tocopherol > <---- snip ----. > Ron Reiner (49 + 1.5 yrs and counting) It's my understanding that any Vitamin E that is listed as dl-alpha.... is a synthetic. Therefore, my preference, regardless of the type I use, and I do place Vitamin E in myself daily, is to choose one that is listed as d-alpha.... on the label. I just feel that natural, organic is better for my body and more easily assimilated. Thus endth my 02 cents. Jeff part-time, long distance CG for Becky, Seattle, WA [log in to unmask]