Plasma tocopherol levels and tocopherol-lipid relationships in a normal population of children as compared to healthy adults

Abstract

A survey of two groups of healthy children was performed to evaluate their vitamin E status and to determine if they differed from adults with respect to plasma tocopherol concentration and its relationship to circulating lipids. Our results indicated that 1- to 12-year-old children showed lower plasma tocopherol values with a mean of 0.59 mg/dl, compared to 0.79 mg/dl in adults. Both populations manifested linear correlations when tocopherol data were graphed as a function of blood lipid constituents. The ratio of tocopherol to total lipids, however, was significantly lower in children. Thus, the difference in tocopherol concentration cannot be explained on the basis of decreased blood lipids alone. Although 36% of the pediatric population had tocopherol values less than 0.5 mg/dl, the previously recognized “lower limit of normal”, none of these subjects showed excessive erythrocyte hemolysis in vitro when red blood cell suspensions were incubated in the presence of peroxide. There was a tendency for a group of “disadvantaged” children to have lower tocopherol levels than a contrast group of middle class children, but this was not statistically demonstrable in a consistent fashion. It is concluded that the range of normality established for adults with respect to tocopherol concentrations and tocopherol/lipid ratios cannot be applied to children and that new norms need to be used in assessing pediatric patients.