A review. The superiority of natural vitamin E over synthetic α-tocopherol lies in two aspects. First, natural d-α-tocopherol has a higher bioavailability than synthetic all-rac-α-tocopherol. Second, natural vitamin E usually consists of different tocopherol homologues as well as tocotrienols, whereas synthetic sources contain mainly α-tocopherol. The non-α-tocopherol homologues, especially γ-tocopherol and tocotrienols play a different but important role in human health. Most of these effects are not related to vitamin E activity. Foods of plant origin such as vegetable oils, margarine, oilseeds, nuts, cereals and green vegetables are the major dietary sources of natural tocopherols and tocotrienols. At present, com. natural vitamin E is produced almost exclusively from deodorizer distillates from the refining of vegetable oils. Oils from a series of edible berries are now potential sources of natural vitamin E. New developments in chem. synthesis and genetic engineering will probably provide new alternatives for an economical production of stereoisomer identical to natural tocopherols and tocotrienols in the future.