Identification of Food Components for INFOODS Data Interchange (UNU, 1989, 165 pages): 4. Assigning the correct food component tagnames to the nutrient data: Vitamin E

Identification of Food Components for INFOODS Data Interchange (UNU, 1989, 165 pages)

4. Assigning the correct food component tagnames to the nutrient data

		Introduction
		Alcohol
		Amino acids: total essential amino acids
		Amino acids: essential to total amino acid ratio
		Amino acids
		Carbohydrate
		Carbohydrates and monosaccharide equivalents
		Cholesterol
		Energy
		Fat
		Fatty acids
		Fibre
		Folate
		Glycerides
		Iron
		Niacin
		Nitrogen
		Protein
		Selenium
		Starch
		Sugar
		Vitamin A
		Vitamin B-6
		Vitamin C
		Vitamin D
		Vitamin E

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is most commonly determined by calculation as the sum of the vitamin E activities of the active tocopherols and tocotrienols in a food. This calculated vitamin E value is expressed as alpha-tocopherol equivalents. It is important not to confuse values for alpha-tocopherol equivalents, a measure of total vitamin E, with values for alpha-tocopherol, one of the tocopherol components contributing to the total vitamin E activity.

Historically, vitamin E has also been determined by bioassay. These values are usually expressed in international units (IU). It is possible to convert between alpha-tocopherol equivalents and international units by using the following equation:

1 mg alpha-tocopheroJ equivalents = 1.49 IU

The tagnames for vitamin E, which are based on its method of determination, and for the tocopherol and tocotrienol components of vitamin E are listed below. All are subsidiary to the < comp > structural tag.

<VITE>	vitamin E; calculated by summation of the vitamin E activities of the active tocopherols and tocotrienols; expressed asalpha-tocopherol equivalents.
<VITEA> <VITE->	vitamin E; determined by bioassay vitamin E; method of determination unknown; expressed as alpha-tocopherol equivalents
< TOCPHA > < TOCPHB > < TOCPHD > < TOCPHG >	alpha-tocopherol beta-tocopherol delta-tocopherol gamma-tocopherol
< TOCTRA > <TOCTRB> < TOCTRD > < TOCTRG >	alpha-tocotrienol beta-tocotrienol delta-tocotrienol gamma-tocotrienol