DEFICIENCY

When can vitamin E deficiency occur?

Vitamin E deficiency is rare in humans. There are three specific situations when a vitamin E deficiency is likely to occur:

• in persons with defective absorbtion of dietary fat (one symptom of cystic fibrosis)
• in premature, very low birth weight infants (birth weights less than 1500 grams)
• in individuals with rare disorders of fat metabolism (e.g. αTTP defect)

Vitamin E deficiency is usually characterized by neurological problems due to poor nerve conduction.

Symptoms of severe vitamin E deficiency mainly occurs in animals.

Cell membrane damage

Anaemia (monkey)
Liver necrosis (pig, rat)
Microangiopathy (pig, lamb)
White muscle disease (lamb, calf)