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The Evidence

Page 41

Vitamin E on a vegan diet

Vitamin E's best sources, nuts, seeds and vegetable oils, are plant foods to begin with. NIH ties genuine deficiency to fat-malabsorption disorders, not to what's on the plate, though many Americans of any diet fall short of the RDA.

Vegan Brief Evidence last reviewed August 22, 2026

This is a summary of the cited evidence, not medical advice.

  • Almonds, 1 oz 6.8 mg vitamin E (45% of the DV)
  • RDA, adults 15 mg/day
  • Deficiency Rare; tied to fat-malabsorption, not diet type

The short version

Vitamin E is the umbrella name for eight related fat-soluble compounds, though only one form, alpha-tocopherol, is the one the body actually maintains in blood.

Primary source 01 / 05

Vitamin E is the collective name for a group of fat-soluble compounds with distinctive antioxidant activities

NIH Office of Dietary Supplements Vitamin E (fact sheet for health professionals), 2021

It works chiefly as an antioxidant, protecting cell membranes from the wear of ordinary metabolism, and it also plays a supporting role in immune function.

The food list runs through the plant aisle

NIH's own ranking of sources is blunt about where vitamin E actually comes from.

Primary source 02 / 05

Nuts, seeds, and vegetable oils are among the best sources of alpha-tocopherol, and significant amounts are available in green leafy vegetables and fortified cereals

NIH Office of Dietary Supplements Vitamin E (fact sheet for health professionals), 2021

An ounce of almonds supplies close to half a day's Daily Value, sunflower seeds a bit more, and a tablespoon of wheat germ oil clears it outright. Spinach and other leafy greens add smaller but real amounts on top.

Who actually falls short

One honest wrinkle before the reassurance: national dietary surveys have found a real gap between typical intake and the RDA, and it has nothing to do with going vegan.

Primary source 03 / 05

the diets of most Americans provide less than the RDA levels of vitamin E

NIH Office of Dietary Supplements Vitamin E (fact sheet for health professionals), 2021

That gap shows up across the general population, not in vegans specifically, and the federal researchers note it may be overstated because cooking fats are hard to track. Separately, actual deficiency disease looks nothing like a simple shortfall.

Primary source 04 / 05

Frank vitamin E deficiency is rare and overt deficiency symptoms have not been found in healthy people who obtain little vitamin E from their diets

NIH Office of Dietary Supplements Vitamin E (fact sheet for health professionals), 2021

Where deficiency does show up, it is almost always an absorption problem rather than a food choice.

Primary source 05 / 05

people with fat-malabsorption disorders are more likely to become deficient than people without such disorders

NIH Office of Dietary Supplements Vitamin E (fact sheet for health professionals), 2021

People with conditions such as Crohn's disease or cystic fibrosis are the group actually at risk, not people eating a lower-fat, plant-based diet. High-dose supplements carry a separate caution in the other direction: large trials have linked long-term high doses to a small rise in all-cause mortality and, in one trial of older men, a higher rate of prostate cancer, which is a reason to get vitamin E from food rather than from a megadose pill.

  • Vitamin C on a vegan diet Vitamin C comes almost entirely from fruits and vegetables, not meat or dairy, so a vegan plate typically carries more of it than a standard one. The federal fact sheet ties deficiency to limited food variety, not diet type.
  • Vitamin A on a vegan diet Vegans get vitamin A the long way round: plants supply beta-carotene, and the body turns it into the active vitamin. The conversion is real but not identical in everyone, which is why the orange and dark-green vegetables earn their place.
  • Vitamin K and K2 on a vegan diet Vitamin K1 is one of the easiest nutrients to get on a plant diet: it is what makes leafy greens green. K2 is the one people worry about, and the honest answer involves natto, gut bacteria, and your own biology.

Frequently asked

Can vegans get enough vitamin E from food?

Yes. NIH's fact sheet names nuts, seeds and vegetable oils, all plant foods, as the top sources, and an ounce of almonds or sunflower seeds supplies close to half the 15 mg RDA on its own.

Is vitamin E deficiency a vegan risk?

No. NIH describes frank deficiency as rare and says it has not been documented in healthy people who simply eat little of it. It shows up mainly with fat-malabsorption disorders such as Crohn's disease or cystic fibrosis, not with a particular diet type.

The primary sources

The documents this page quotes. Read them yourself.

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