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Sesame Seed Lignans and -Tocopherol Act Synergistically to Produce Vitamin E Activity in Rats^1,2,

Department of Food and Nutrition, School of Life Studies, Sugiyama Jogakuen University, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464, Japan ^* Tokyo University of Agriculture, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, 156, Japan

Vitamin E activity of sesame seed, which contains only -tocopherol, a compound that has vitamin E activity equal to only 6–16% that of -tocopherol, was examined in two experiments. In the first experiment, groups of rats were fed four diets: vitamin E-free control diet, -tocopherol-containing diet, -tocopherol-containing diet and sesame seed-containing diet. Changes in red blood cell hemolysis, plasma pyruvate kinase activity, and peroxides in plasma and liver, as indices of vitamin E activity, were examined. The sesame seed diet has high vitamin E activity, whereas this activity was low in the -tocopherol diet. In plasma and liver, -tocopherol was found in high concentration only in the -tocopherol-fed group, and -tocopherol was found in high concentration only in the sesame seed-fed group, with negligible amounts of -tocopherol in liver of the -tocopherol-fed group. In the second experiment, two diets containing sesame lignan (sesaminol or sesamin) and -tocopherol were tested. Results in both of the sesame lignan-fed groups were comparable to those observed in the sesame seed-fed group in Experiment 1. These experiments indicate that -tocopherol in sesame seed exerts vitamin E activity equal to that of -tocopherol through a synergistic interaction with sesame seed lignans.

KEY WORDS: • vitamin E • sesame seed • rats • -tocopherol • sesame lignans

¹ Preliminary results from this study were presented at the Sixth Asian Congress of Nutrition, September 16–19, 1991, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia [Yamashita, K., Nohara, Y., Katayama, K. & Namiki, M. (1991) Comparative vitamin E activity of -tocopherol, -tocopherol and sesame in rats, p. 361 (abs.)].

² Supported by the grant-in-aid for scientific research (C) from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (No. 63580072) and a grant from Tokai Foundation for Technology.

³ To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Manuscript received 10 April 1992. Revision accepted 25 August 1992.

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