- Gelatin (a protein chemically extracted and refined from skin, bones, intestines, and other organs of cows and pigs)
- Soybean oil (from genetically modified, omega-6-laden soybeans)
- Glycerin (from soybean oil, a byproduct of the growing biofuels industry. US makes crude glycerin which is shipped to China and other Asian countries and reimported as refined glycerin.)
What if you're cutting back on omega-6 fats, or GMOs, or foods of animal origin? What if your budget is tight? How easy is it to get the RDA from food - for, say, the fat soluble vitamin E? (RDA for vitamin E for adult men and women is 15 mg (22.4 IU) alpha-tocopherol.)
Here are some vitamin E amounts I picked up from NutritionData (serving size, calories, vitamin E mg). In no particular order:
- Spinach, frozen, chopped or leaf, cooked, boiled, drained, with salt, 1/2 cup, 32, 3.4
- Chard, Swiss, cooked, boiled, drained, with salt, 1/2 cup, 17, 1.6
- Asparagus, cooked, boiled, drained, 4 spears, 13, 0.9
- Tomato products, canned, sauce, 1/2 cup, 30, 1.8
- Squash, winter, butternut, cooked, baked, without salt, 1/2 cup cubes, 41, 1.3
- Peppers, sweet, red, raw, 1 small (about 1/2 cup chopped), 23, 1.2
- Broccoli, cooked, boiled, drained, with salt, 1/2 cup chopped, 27, 1.1
- Kiwi fruit, (Chinese gooseberries), fresh, raw, 1 medium without skin, 46, 1.1
- Apricots, dried, sulfured, uncooked, 1 ounce (about 1/4 cup), 67, 1.2
- Seeds, sunflower seed kernels, dried, 1 ounce (bit less than 1/4 cup), 164, 9.3
- Nuts, almonds [Includes USDA commodity food A256, A264], 1 oz (23 whole), 162, 7.4
- Peanut butter, smooth style, with salt, 1 tablespoon, 94, 1.5
- Beans, kidney, all types, mature seeds, cooked, boiled, with salt, 1/2 cup, 112, 0.8
- Egg, whole, cooked, hard-boiled, 1 large, 77, 0.5
- Fish, salmon, sockeye, canned, drained solids with bone, 3 oz, 141, 1.8
- Beef, chuck, arm pot roast, separable lean and fat, trimmed to 1/8" fat, choice, cooked, braised [URMIS #1864], 3 oz, 263, 0.5
I often think since vitamin E is a fatty vitamin there wouldn't be appreciable amounts in non-fatty foods. Here's a chart from the data above that shows many low-fat, low-calorie foods have more vitamin E per calorie, that is, are more nutritionally dense, than higher-fat foods:
Click to enlarge.
For the case of vitamin E at least, foods may have the edge over supplements.