Vitamin E kinetics in smokers and nonsmokers

• Published in: Free radical biology & medicine Vol. 31; no. 11; pp. 1368 - 1374
• Main Authors: Traber, Maret G, Winklhofer-Roob, Brigitte M, Roob, Johannes M, Khoschsorur, Gholamali, Aigner, Reingard, Cross, Carroll, Ramakrishnan, Rajasekhar, Brigelius-Flohé, Regina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.12.2001
• Subjects: Adult; all rac-α-tocopherol; alpha-Tocopherol - administration & dosage; alpha-Tocopherol - analogs & derivatives; alpha-Tocopherol - blood; alpha-Tocopherol - pharmacokinetics; Cholesterol - blood; Cigarettes; Deuterium; Free radicals, Deuterated tocopherols; Humans; Kinetics; Malondialdehyde - blood; Oxidative stress; RRR-α-tocopherol; Smoking - blood; Tocopherols; Triglycerides - blood; Vitamin E - pharmacokinetics; Oxidative stress; Cigarettes; Free radicals, Deuterated tocopherols; RRR-α-tocopherol; all rac-α-tocopherol
• ISSN: 0891-5849; 1873-4596
• DOI: 10.1016/S0891-5849(01)00723-7

Does cigarette smoking increase vitamin E utilization in vivo? A trial was carried out in 6 smokers and 5 nonsmokers of comparable ages and serum lipids. Subjects consumed 75 mg each d 3- RRR and d 6- all rac-α-tocopheryl acetates (natural and synthetic vitamin E, respectively) daily for 7 d with a standardized breakfast. Fasting blood samples were drawn on days −7, −6, −5, −4, −3, −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 14, 21 (negative days indicate supplementation). In both groups, plasma d 3-α-tocopherol concentrations were approximately double of d 6-α-tocopherol. At day 0, the %d 3 α-tocopherols (d 3-α-tocopherol/total-α-tocopherol × 100) were similar in both smokers and nonsmokers. Subsequently, there was a trend toward a faster exponential disappearance of the plasma %d 3 α-tocopherol in smokers compared with nonsmokers (0.30 ± 0.04 compared with 0.24 ± 0.05, p = .0565). The calculated %d 3 half-lives were 55.6 ± 7.4 h in smokers and 72.1 ± 17.3 h in nonsmokers ( p = .0630). By day 21, the %d 3 in smokers had decreased to 1.4% ± 0.3% while it was 2.2% ± 0.7% ( p = .0418) in the nonsmokers. These data suggest that smoking increases plasma vitamin E disappearance, but further studies are needed to confirm this finding and to assess its cause.