Absorption of Vitamin E: Oil and Water Do Not Mix, or Do They?

We are water-based organisms - water makes up more than half of our weight. The blood, the lifeline that carries the nutrients and nourishes all our tissues is water-based. Vitamin E, however, is fat-soluble. Oil and water do not mix. The body has to overcome this problem and micelles are the body's solution. The fat material is put into these unique tiny spheres with a water-loving (hydrophilic) outer layer and is ferried from the gut across the intestinal wall into the blood stream.

To make micelles, two major components are absolutely required.

Bile - a yellow-green liquid produced in the liver and secreted into the gut. The bile helps emulsify the fat in our diet and provides components of the outer layer of the micelles.
Pancreatic juice, a secretion delivered into the upper part of the small intestine (duodenum), where it aids digestion.

In the blood stream vitamin E is transported by lipoproteins, the vehicles that transport lipid materials in our body. These are minute spheres with a water friendly outer layer, which allows them to circulate freely in the blood. They carry vitamin E and other lipids in their lipophilic interior.