Final answer:
Vitamin E acts mainly as a free radical scavenger, protecting cell membranes from oxidative damage, maintaining antioxidant systems like vitamin C and glutathione, and preventing inflammation, making all the choices given in the question accurate for its functions.
Step-by-step explanation:
Vitamin E, also known as tocopherol, is an essential nutrient that serves multiple roles in maintaining the health of the body's cells. The primary role of vitamin E is to act as a free radical scavenger, protecting cellular membranes from oxidative damage by free radicals. These free radicals can cause cellular and molecular damage, which vitamin E helps to prevent by functioning as an antioxidant. It does this in several key ways:
- It protects cell membranes from destruction by donating a hydrogen atom to free radicals.
- It prevents the generation of inflammatory responses that can be triggered by oxidative stress.
- Vitamin E also helps maintain other antioxidant systems in the body, such as regenerating reduced forms of other antioxidants like vitamin C and glutathione.
- In addition, it works to prevent the oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids in cell membranes, helping to maintain their integrity and function.
We can summarize that vitamin E protects cellular membranes, maintains free radical detoxifying enzyme systems, prevents glutathione depletion, and reduces inflammation. Therefore, the correct response to the student's question would be option 4: All of these choices are accurate.