Infants discriminate between natural and synthetic vitamin E.
BACKGROUND
In adults, RRR-alpha-tocopheryl acetate (natural vitamin E) has approximately twice the biological activity of all-rac-alpha-tocopherol (synthetic vitamin E). Similar studies have not been done in term infants.


OBJECTIVE
We evaluated the vitamin E and antioxidant status of term infants fed formulas differing in the amount and form of vitamin E acetate.


METHODS
A controlled, blinded, multisite study was completed with 77 term infants randomly assigned to 1 of 3 different infant-formula groups. The HIGHNAT-E formula (n = 26) contained 20 IU RRR-alpha-tocopheryl acetate/L (14.5 mg/L), the LOWNAT-E formula (n = 25) contained 10 IU RRR-alpha-tocopheryl acetate/L (7.3 mg/L), and the SYN-E formula (n = 26) contained 13.5 IU synthetic all-rac-alpha-tocopheryl acetate/L (13.5 mg/L). A human milk-fed group (n = 29) served as a reference.


RESULTS
Although the LOWNAT-E formula contained only one-half the concentration of alpha-tocopherol that the SYN-E formula did (7.3 compared with 13.5 mg/L), the infants fed the LOWNAT-E formula had plasma alpha-tocopherol concentrations that were not significantly different from those of the infants fed the SYN-E formula. However, alpha-tocopherol intakes in the study population, when expressed as mg 2R-tocopherol isomers consumed/d, correlated with plasma alpha-tocopherol (r = 0.20, P = 0.02) and the ratio of plasma alpha-tocopherol to lipids (r = 0.19, P = 0.03). There were no significant differences in antioxidant status between the 3 groups, but the LOWNAT-E group showed a trend toward lower plasma isoprostanes.


CONCLUSIONS
This study supports the new definition for vitamin E given in the 2000 Dietary Reference Intakes and suggests that infants discriminate between RRR-alpha-tocopheryl acetate and all-rac-alpha-tocopheryl acetate. All 3 infant formulas supported adequate vitaminE status.
Stone
William L
WL
Department of Pediatrics, James H Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN 37614-0578, USA. stone@mail.etsu.edu
LeClair
Irene
I
Ponder
Terry
T
Baggs
Geraldine
G
Reis
Bridget Barrett
BB
D000975:Antioxidants / Q000032:analysis; D001724:Birth Weight; D015237:Dinoprost / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007225:Infant Food; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D013237:Stereoisomerism; D024505:Tocopherols; D024502:alpha-Tocopherol / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood / Q000737:chemistry; D024504:gamma-Tocopherol / Q000097:blood
D000975:Antioxidants; C075750:8-epi-prostaglandin F2alpha; D024504:gamma-Tocopherol; D015237:Dinoprost; D024502:alpha-Tocopherol; D024505:Tocopherols