Water-miscible tocopherol is not superior to fat-soluble preparation for vitamin E absorption in cystic fibrosis

Vitamin E deficiency is a major problem in cystic fibrosis. Modem pancreati c enzymes may improve the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins to make water dispersion less important. In order to compare the absorption of fat-solubl e (F) and water-miscible (W) tocopheryl acetate, equivalent amounts (10 mg/ kg body weight) were given to five patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and f ive ageand sex-matched healthy controls. Serum was analysed for vitamin E u sing HPLC before and 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 24 and 28 h after the oral intak e. The median peak concentrations in the sera of controls were 41.9 mu mol/ L after F and 39.8 mu mol/L after W preparations, corresponding values in C F patients being 21.3 and 26.8 mu mol/L, and corresponding means +/- SD wer e 41.6 +/- 6.7 and 38.4 +/- 3.3, and 27.1 +/- 14.5 and 28.8 +/- 8.3, respec tively. Although the area under the curve was lower for W than F preparatio ns in both CF patients and controls, these differences were not significant . Conclusion: The results in our study are consistent with those of an earlie r study using the same preparation and suggest that it is not necessary to use water-miscible preparation of alpha -tocopheryl acetate in CF patients receiving modern pancreatic enzyme supplementation.