# Vitamin E Antioxidant Usage



## taurus50 (Jun 15, 2012)

Hello!!  New the forum here!  First question is about vitamin E and using it as an antioxidant to help extend life of our creations. 

My question is which is better, Vitamin E acetate or Vitamin E T50.  I was reading on FNWL and they recommend that while vitamin e acetate is good, the T50 is better.  What do you think or what has experience shown?

Also, how much of the addition of only say .5% or 1% of vitamin E or Vitamin E T50 increase a shelf life of a cream containing say maybe avocado oil or some other oil that maybe only has a 9-12 month life?  Can you maybe get another 6 months or more out of it?

Hope my first questions is a good one for the board!

Thanks!


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## Hazel (Jun 15, 2012)

Welcome to the forum!   

Both will work. I've read several articles which stated T-50 is a better antioxidant than Vitamin E acetate in oils. I don't know if this is factual but I use T-50 and I have creams that are a couple of years old (or slightly older) and they haven’t gone rancid. However, I use a bit more than the recommended usage rate. The reason for this is my scale doesn’t weigh small amounts very well. I have to add at least 6 g to my batches so I’m using at least 2% in lotions and creams. The oil I had left over from these batches did go rancid last year. (Darn it! I should have added T-50 to the container.) So in my experience, I believe the T-50 has extended the shelf life of the oils but I can't say adding Vitamin E will extend the shelf life another 6 months. I don't know what conditions your oils will be kept in and that can affect shelf life. Storing your oils in a cool, dark place will help them last longer. I keep several oils in my frig and this helps to extend their shelf lives. BTW, I love avocado in lotions and I also use it in soap.

A tip someone mentioned (I'd give credit to her/him if I could remember who said it) is to add some T-50 to oils when you open the containers. This helps to extend the shelf life. 

Off topic – you can also use rosemary oil extract (ROE). I haven’t used it but other members have said it works well.

HTH


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## taurus50 (Jun 16, 2012)

Hazel said:
			
		

> Welcome to the forum!
> 
> Both will work. I've read several articles which stated T-50 is a better antioxidant than Vitamin E acetate in oils. I don't know if this is factual but I use T-50 and I have creams that are a couple of years old (or slightly older) and they haven’t gone rancid. However, I use a bit more than the recommended usage rate. The reason for this is my scale doesn’t weigh small amounts very well. I have to add at least 6 g to my batches so I’m using at least 2% in lotions and creams. The oil I had left over from these batches did go rancid last year. (Darn it! I should have added T-50 to the container.) So in my experience, I believe the T-50 has extended the shelf life of the oils but I can't say adding Vitamin E will extend the shelf life another 6 months. I don't know what conditions your oils will be kept in and that can affect shelf life. Storing your oils in a cool, dark place will help them last longer. I keep several oils in my frig and this helps to extend their shelf lives. BTW, I love avocado in lotions and I also use it in soap.
> 
> ...



Thank you for the great reply and the welcome!  

In the past, I have always just used normal Vitamin E acetate, but I think from your reply and recent research, it is time to try T50.  I assume I would add it to the cool down stage like I do normal Vitamin E acetate.

I just tried searching for the post regarding adding the T50 to the containers directly when opening it, I  could not find, but that is a great suggestion!  From memory of the tip, how much did they recommend to add to the container of oil to help extend it?  

My only concern is sometimes I do take my stuff to local farmers markets to sell or give away to friends, so I have to label my creations.   How would this effect my labeling?  Do you think I would have to be concerned with that?  Also, would I still have to add the T50 in the cool down stage if already added to the container previously?  

Thanks again Hazel!


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## Hazel (Jun 16, 2012)

You're welcome! I add T-50 during the cool down phase. This is just my opinion but I would add more vitamin E even if you have used an oil with added T-50. I've read conflicting info about the heat stability of tocopherols. I wouldn't want to depend on tocopherols stability after being held at 160+ degrees for 20 minutes.  

You should always be concerned about labeling if you're selling. You're really not using much of the T-50. You probably have better scales than I do so you'd be able to accurately add in a lower percentage. Just adding .4% or .5% to oils and again into a batch isn't going to raise the total percentage in your batch by very much. The other ingredients such as distilled water, ewax, stearic acid, fragrance and any other additives are going to effect the final percentage in the lotion. I'd include "Tocopherol" into your ingredient list after anything used at 1% and before anything used at .5%. 

Did you try searching for the word - tocopherol? There have been discussions about it. I know I read an article  a few years ago about an experiment where someone added tocopherol to oils in containers. I wish I could remember where I read it.  This emphasizes the importance of keeping notes about information which would be useful to others.


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## taurus50 (Jun 18, 2012)

Thanks again for the information Hazel!


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