Abstract
Antioxidant vitamins have been reported to protect against a variety of human malignances and multiple chronic degenerative diseases therefore it is important to understand factors that influence their blood levels. The pre- sent study was conducted to verify association of serum retinol and � -tocopherol levels with obesity, and to assess predic- tors of their serum concentrations in representative sample population of overweight/obese (n = 51) and normal weight (n = 26) apparently healthy adult female subjects recruited from typical urban area in Poland. Anthropometric measurements were taken from all participants who also completed a questionnaire on selected lifestyle factors. The serum concentra- tions of retinol and � -tocopherol were measured by fully validated Chromsystems diagnostic kit employing isocratic RP- HPLC with switched wavelength UV detection. Intake of energy, fat, vitamin A and E and alcohol consumption were es- timated by seven daily dietary records. Multivariate linear regression models were fitted in order to estimate the predictors of serum retinol and � -tocopherol concentration. There were no statistically significant differences in the average se- rum levels of retinol and � -tocopherol between overweight/obese and normal weight adult female subjects. Serum � - tocopherol concentrations were positively correlated with serum total cholesterol level (TChol) and body mass index (BMI), but inversely with total energy intake and past dieting behaviour. The TChol and total energy intake were identi- fied as predictors of serum retinol levels. Intakes of fat and vitamin E and A, age, serum triglyceride concentration, smok- ing, alcohol consumption and physical activity were unrelated to serum levels of retinol or � -tocopherol. The main finding of this study is that obesity is not associated with decreased serum retinol and � -tocopherol levels. In addition, these re- sults indicated that dietary intake of vitamin A and E are poor predictors for serum retinol or � -tocopherol concentra- tions. Serum levels of both these vitamins are primarily influenced by TChol, obesity, total energy intake and past dieting behaviour.
Highlights
The antioxidant vitamins contribute to the body’s defense against reactive oxygen species [1]
total cholesterol level (TChol) TG Age Energy intake Fat intake (g/d) Vitamin A intake(g/d) Vitamin E intake Alcohol intake (g/d) Smoking (%) Dieting (%) Physical activity (%) body mass index (BMI) Adjusted R2 aSignificant correlations are marked in bold numbers
As in other studies we observed a high correlation between serum retinol and -tocopherol levels and serum total cholesterol concentration TChol [15, 17, 40,41,42]
Summary
The antioxidant vitamins contribute to the body’s defense against reactive oxygen species [1] Retinol and tocopherol, both for dietary intake and basal serum concentrations, are one of the most widely studied compounds in various populations because of the increasing evidence of their potential role in the prevention of chronic degenerative diseases, such as coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, many types of cancer and bone calcification [2,3,4]. In obesity the risk of developing resistance to insulin, lipid alterations and of being subjected to oxidative stress is higher [20] This is associated with the presence of low serum concentrations of antioxidant vitamins which might be the factor that increases the risk of incidence of a nontransmissible chronic diseases, the cardiovascu-
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