Soybean Oil in D-α-Tocopheryl ?

Sorry for the confusion! The thing most people don't realize is that virtually all natural vitamin E (including our d-alpha tocopheryl succinate) starts with soybean oil as the raw material. This isn't unique to our product. It's industry standard across North America. The manufacturing process uses something called vegetable oil distillate (VOD), or deodorized distillate of soybean oil. That is then put through an esterification step, followed by a distillation step. Then the mixed tocopherols are separated and purified. Then it is reacted with succinic anhydride and crystallized. During these processes, the original soybean oil is completely transformed on a molecular level. The hydroxyl group on the chromanol ring of the vitamin E molecule undergoes esterification with succinic acid to create the succinate form. This isn't just mixing ingredients. It's legitimate chemical transformation.

To give you an idea of how resource-intensive this process is, it takes approximately 20 acres of soybeans to produce just 2.2 pounds of vitamin E. That's why soybean oil is the preferred starting material. It is abundant and rich in natural tocopherols. What's critically important to understand is that the final d-alpha tocopheryl succinate product is chemically distinct from soybean oil. The starting material undergoes such extensive processing and transformation that it's completely converted into a new molecule. The original triglyceride structure of soybean oil no longer exists in the final product.

We included "soybean oil" on our label in an effort to be fully transparent about the manufacturing process. We go very far to understand the entire production process of every ingredient we use, including full production flow charts, to ensure we understand exactly how everything is being made. Then we are insanely transparent about everything going into products. However, this has clearly created more confusion than clarity in this case. Since the final product doesn't actually contain soybean oil, just molecules that were derived from it through chemical transformation, I am going to talk to the team about removing it from the label.

For those worried about soy allergies, there's good news. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has permanently exempted d-alpha tocopherol derived from soybean oil from allergen labeling requirements. They made this decision because the refinement processes remove virtually all allergenic proteins. The manufacturing of vitamin E involves solvent extraction, distillative neutralization, and purification processes that essentially eliminate any allergenic potential.