Foods high in vitamin E, ranked by milligrams

The RDA is 15 mg of alpha-tocopherol a day, and a single ounce of sunflower seeds or almonds covers roughly half of it. The mg-per-serving ranking, why the oils and nuts dominate, and why deficiency is rare but supplements can backfire.

1. 01

   Wheat germ oil: ~20 mg per tablespoon, the outlier

   Wheat germ oil is in a class of its own at roughly 20 mg of alpha-tocopherol per tablespoon, more than a full day's target in a single spoon (USDA FoodData Central). It is too strong-flavored and heat-sensitive to cook with, so it is used raw, drizzled over finished dishes. Almost nobody eats it, but it anchors the top of the ranking and shows just how concentrated vitamin E is in the germ of a seed, the part refined grains discard.

2. 02

   Sunflower seeds and almonds: ~7.3-7.4 mg per ounce

   An ounce of sunflower seeds delivers ~7.4 mg and an ounce of almonds ~7.3 mg, so a small handful of either covers close to half the daily target (NIH ODS). These are the realistic everyday sources: portable, shelf-stable, and eaten in the kind of quantities that add up. They stack vitamin E with magnesium, healthy fats, and plant protein, which is why a seed or nut habit is one of the simplest ways to keep this nutrient topped up without thinking about it.

3. 03

   Hazelnuts, pine nuts, and peanut butter: ~2-4 mg per serving

   Hazelnuts carry ~4.3 mg per ounce, pine nuts and peanut butter land around 2-3 mg per serving, filling the high-middle of the list (USDA). None is a standout on its own, but because they turn up in spreads, trail mixes, and baking, they form a steady background contribution. The pattern holds: the vitamin E in nuts sits in their oil, so the fattier the nut, the more it tends to carry.

4. 04

   Sunflower, safflower, and olive oil: ~1.9-5.6 mg per tablespoon

   Sunflower oil supplies ~5.6 mg per tablespoon, safflower oil a similar amount, and olive oil ~1.9 mg (NIH ODS; USDA). Because oil is used in cooking almost every day, these are the sources most people actually rely on without noticing. It is also why the vitamin E content of a diet tracks closely with the type and amount of cooking oil used, and why very low-fat diets can quietly run short.

5. 05

   Avocado, leafy greens, red pepper, and mango: ~1-4 mg per serving

   Among whole foods, a whole avocado carries ~4 mg, cooked spinach and Swiss chard ~2-3 mg per half cup, and red pepper and mango a milligram or two each (USDA FoodData Central). These are the sources that matter for people who eat little added oil, and they bring fiber, potassium, and carotenoids along with the vitamin E. No single serving is large, but together they explain why a vegetable-rich diet rarely falls short even without nuts or oils.

6. 06

   Why supplements are the wrong route

   High-dose vitamin E supplements, typically 400 IU and up, are the one place to be cautious: large trials found no protection against heart disease or cancer, some evidence of higher all-cause mortality, and at very high doses an increased bleeding risk, especially alongside blood thinners (NIH ODS). Food-form vitamin E has none of these problems. This is the recurring lesson of fat-soluble vitamins on this site: the isolated high dose behaves differently, and often worse, than the same nutrient bound to whole food.