VITAMIN-E SUPPLEMENTS AND THEIR EFFECT ON VITAMIN-E STATUS IN BLOOD AND GENETIC-DAMAGE RATE IN PERIPHERAL-BLOOD LYMPHOCYTES

A placebo-controlled double-blind intervention trial was performed usi ng 60 male volunteers aged between 50 and 70 years to test the hypothe sis that intake of d-alphatocopherol (VITE) above the recommended diet ary intake (RDI) level (10.0 mg or 14.9 IU VITE) can protect against D NA damage in human peripheral blood lymphocytes. The intervention cons isted of two phases, each of 8 weeks duration: during the initial phas e the VITE supplement was 5 x RDI (provided in cereal) and during the second phase the VITE supplement was 30 x RDI (provided in capsules), Blood samples were collected before the initial phase, between phases and at the end of the second phase; the level of VITE was measured in plasma using HPLC and genetic damage rate in peripheral blood lymphocy tes was measured using the cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay, The s tudy has shown that cereal supplementation is an effective route for a n above RDI intake of VITE; a 5 x RDI supplement resulted in a 22% ele vation in the plasma VITE status, By comparison the use of 30 x RDI su pplementation with capsules as the route of delivery resulted in an 89 % increment in plasma VITE status, The increased VITE status during th e intervention, however, had no significant impact on the spontaneous genetic damage rate in human lymphocytes. There was also no correlatio n between baseline genetic damage frequency and VITE status, However, a 32% (P < 0.007) decrease in the micronucleus index was recorded in b oth the control and VITE-supplemented groups during the course of the study which could have been due either to seasonal effects or other co mmon components in the diet such as the carrier used for the VITE in t he cereal and the capsules, The study has identified a small proportio n (3.4%) of apparently healthy individuals who are abnormally sensitiv e to oxidative stress by hydrogen peroxide and demonstrated that VITE supplementation did not attenuate the impact of the oxidative challeng e on genetic damage rate, The above data suggest that supplements in c ereal are a viable route for delivering VITE and that supplementation with VITE is unlikely to affect chromosome damage occurring spontaneou sly or as a result of exposure to oxidative radicals.