The tocopherol pattern in human serum is markedly influenced by intake of vitamin E drugs—Results of the german national health surveys

Abstract

Abstract During national and regional health surveys, done from 1984–1995 in Germany, consumption data for all drugs used by the participants—approximately 18,000 persons—in the last 7 d before the examination were monitored with a detailed drug‐usage questionnaire. The groups examined are representative for the national and regional German inhabitant population aged 25–69 yr. In serum samples of subsamples of the study participants, all tocopherols were measured by isocratic high‐performance liquid chromatography (Si 60 column, fluorescence detection). Consumption data for tocopherol‐containing drugs showed that up to 5% of females and up to 3% of males of the study population used those drugs. During the study period, the serum content of α‐tocopherol (mean values ± SD) rose from 7.5 ± 2.6 mg/L serum to 11.8 ± 2.8 mg/L serum for nonusers and from 11.9 ± 4.3 mg/L serum to 15.3 ± 4.9 mg/L serum in tocopherol‐drug users. Throughout all studies, it could be shown that β‐ and γ‐tocopherol were heavily reduced in those persons taking daily doses ≥50 mg α‐tocopherol. The reduction of the two tocopherols is dose‐dependent and especially pronounced in females using high‐dose α‐tocopherol drugs. Owing to the emerging evidence of the physiological importance concerning the balance of the different tocopherols in biological systems, the possible benefits of using natural tocopherol mixtures from plant origin instead of pure RRR ‐α‐tocopherol, gained from permethylation procedures, as vitamin supplements in human nutrition should be considered.