Vitamin E overdose is rare.  Healthy individuals should be able to take up to 1500 IUs (International Units) every day.  According to some experts, athletes may be able to take up to 2400 IUs daily without any adverse effects.  There have been occasional reports that vitamin E may be dangerous.  The historical usage reports do not show this to be true.

It's estimated that roughly 7 in 10 people take some sort of natural supplement.  The most popular dosage of vitamin E is 400 IU's a day.  But should that be a concern for overdosing?

With rates being that high some are concerned about possible vitamin E overdoses resulting from the "if one is good, ten must be better" type attitude.

Poison Control Centers Study

The best evidence I could find relating to overdoses from vitamin E is the American Poison Control Center.  As recently as 2003 there had been no reported deaths from vitamin E.

Even more convincing is the study by the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) which looked at a 23 year review of information from 61 poison control centers across the US.  They included data for accidental misuse and even intentional misuse.  Despite including intentional misuse the review showed deaths were very low with less than one death per year for over 2 decades.

Additionally, in 16 of the 23 years their data showed no deaths due to vitamins.  The study looked at not just vitamin E, but vitamin A, Niacin (vitamin b3), pyridoxine (vitamin b-6), B complex, and vitamins C, D and even vitamin K.

Recent Cochran Review

I think some of the concern over vitamin overdoses may stem from the recent Cochran Review that showed vitamins, including vitamin E, may increase mortality and that they should be avoided.

First of all, this study was a meta-analysis.  Which means the reviewers went back through years of studies looking for ones that met their criteria.

Personally, I don't put much credence in meta-analysis because they can either be skewed positively or negatively depending on what the reviewers want to see.  In short, they can be abused.

Despite my personal feelings on the Cochran Review and what their conclusions were you need to understand that the study looked at longevity, not overdoses.  In short, they tried to ask does vitamin E supplementation help people live longer.  There was no attempt to look at "does vitamin E cause overdoses".

Again, while I don't personally take vitamin E as of this writing I would not be worried about any sort of overdose if I'm taking less than 1500 IUs per day.  I also feel that more work needs to be done on the issue of long term benefit of taking vitamin E as I think the Cochran review was a misguided meta-analysis.