by Sue Becker, 1995
The richest source of Vitamin E is found in the germ of the wheat kernel. When wheat is milled into flour, the vitamin E is very quickly oxidized. Wheat, as well as other grains, then must be either eaten whole or the flour used freshly milled to obtain the vitamin E. Bread and other flour products on the market today have had this precious nutrient stripped away and in most cases none at all is added back. “Real bread”, made from fresh milled flour has vitamin E as well as many other vital nutrients.
The significance of this vitamin to our bodies is absolutely amazing. Despite a wide variety of symptoms due to a vitamin E deficiency, this vitamin technically has only one function: to prevent fatty acids and fat-like substances from being destroyed within the body by oxygen. These fat-like substances include vitamin A, carotene, pituitary, sex, and adrenal hormones. The essential fatty acids make up and form not only part of the internal structure and wall of every cell in our body, but also the connective tissue between every cell in the body. Vitamin E prevents oxygen from combining with these fatty acids thus preventing their breakdown and the disintegration of the cell. Vitamin E is literally needed by every cell in the body. The body’s need for oxygen is also greatly reduced as vitamin E prevents these vitamins, hormones, and fatty acids from wastefully combining with it. Since these cells are the very foundation of the structure of every part of our body (i.e. organs, skin, blood, hair, and blood vessels), we can only be as healthy as our cells. Just as the Church, the body of Christ, is only as healthy as its members, spiritually speaking.
Foods such as grains and oils, which naturally contain vitamin E , are now being so refined that this important nutrient is being destroyed, causing most of us to be grossly under-supplied. What vitamin E we are consuming is quickly used up or destroyed in its function of protecting the nutrients and cells from destruction by oxygen. Oxygen shows no partiality in the effects it may have on our body as it is transported by the blood to every cell. This fact explains to me why we can all consume basically the same unhealthy, processed foods and yet see such a wide variety of health problems.
Perhaps in one body vitamin A is being destroyed by oxygen because vitamin E is absent. Vitamin A is necessary for good eyesight and proper function of the heart. Can we see that a vitamin A deficiency may actually be caused by a lack of vitamin E?
The production of normal skin cells requires more oxygen than the production of scar tissue. Therefore when you have been severely cut, severing the blood source to an area, thus reducing the oxygen supply, scar tissue will form in the place of normal skin cells. Since vitamin E lowers the amount of oxygen required to make normal skin cells, its’ presence ( internally or externally ) can reduce or even eliminate the formation of scars.
Why all the infertility problems? Sex hormones are some of the fat-like substances that may be destroyed by oxygen if vitamin E is not present. This explains why vitamin E is necessary for the proper function of the female reproductive system. Also scar tissue left by infections in these areas of the body can prevent normal function of the reproductive system in both men and women.
What if the oxygen is causing the breakdown of cells that make up the walls of our veins and arteries? If the destruction of these cells exceeds their production , weakness may occur in the walls causing breaks in our veins and arteries such as aneurysms which can be fatal. Also as these dead cells are sloughed off, debris collects, causing clots to form. Clot formation may also be a natural response to weakened or severed blood vessels to prevent hemorrhage. Varicose veins are caused by clots forming in the main vein of the leg and therefore the blood supply must be diverted to the other smaller vessels causing them to become visible from bulging with the increased quantity of blood now flowing through them. The number one cause of heart attack is clot formations causing a blockage. Much research has been done to confirm vitamin E’s absolute importance in preventing the formation of clots throughout the body.
Red blood cells may often be the target of the destroying forces of oxygen. As red blood cells are necessary for the absorption of needed iron, anemia may actually be caused by a vitamin E deficiency and not an iron deficiency at all. When I shared this information in one of my seminars a lady gave testimony to this fact. All her life she had struggled with anemia. Twice a year she had her iron levels checked, always to be found lacking. After just a few months of adding “real bread” to her diet, she had her first check-up where normal iron levels were found in her blood.
The muscle cells of a vitamin E deficient person break down as readily as do the red blood cells causing such problems as muscular weakness, stiffness, pain, and spasms. Crossed eyes as well as some nearsightedness may be the result of weakness in the muscles behind the eyes. One lady reported to us that her child no longer needs glasses to read after years of wearing them, with the only dietary change being the making of bread with fresh ground whole wheat.
Muscular dystrophy, a disease where muscle cells break down and are replaced by useless scar tissue, has increased greatly in recent years. This severe muscle weakness could be prevented if adequate vitamin E were present in the diet.
When the fatty acids , forming part of the cell structure, are destroyed by oxygen in the absence of vitamin E, virus, bacteria, and allergens have an easier access into the tissues thus causing greater risk of infections and allergies. If the diet is improved to more adequately supply vitamin E, resistance to disease and infection can be greatly increased.
Warts, a manifestation of a viral infection, can be eliminated by the addition of this vitamin to the diet. Many families, including our own, have reported almost miraculous disappearance of warts since changing to “real bread” with its rich supply of vitamin E.
A discussion of the benefits of vitamin E is almost endless and an entire book could be written from the testimonies and possible benefits from its addition to the diet. I will stop for now, but in closing, I would like to leave you with a most incredible thought.
As you sit and read this article, and as you go about the daily routines of life, you constantly perform a function quite involuntary – breathing. Since we are constantly breathing to bring in oxygen, which is necessary for life, vitamin E is constantly being used up. The demand for this precious nutrient is great and must be continuously supplied. No wonder when the disciples asked Jesus to, “Teach us to pray”, His instruction included the prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread”. In fact Jesus even compared himself to bread (John 6:48), but not to the cheap imitation called bread found in the stores today. Jesus compared himself to bread, “real bread”, the staff of life, made from fresh milled, life-giving whole grains.
Just before His death Jesus even compared himself to a kernel of wheat. “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” John 12:24. This verse reveals some astounding truths. The corn of wheat has life since it does not die until it falls into the ground. Hidden away in the very most concealed and protected part of the wheat (the germ), is the vitamin E. It is contained in the very life of the seed. As vitamin E performs its’ most critical task of protecting nutrients and cells from being destroyed in the body in the presence of oxygen, it is itself destroyed, it gives up its life. It gives up its life to protect us from the destruction of oxygen as Jesus gave up His life to protect us from the destroyer. Jesus gave up His life that “we may have life and have it more abundantly”. Jesus being the creator of all things, knew the life-giving contents of this wheat and that is what He compared himself to. Just as Jesus is needed by every “cell” of His body, so this precious, life-giving nutrient is needed by every cell of our body. Man, however, “does not live by bread alone” (Matthew 4:4) and even the physical design of our bodies points to our desperate need for a Savior. What an incredible picture!
“I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” John 6:51
“Give us this day our daily bread.” Matthew 6:11