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Sesame seed and its lignans produce marked enhancement of vitamin E activity in rats fed a low α‐tocopherol diet
Author(s) -
Yamashita Kanae,
Iizuka Yoshie,
Imai Tomoko,
Namiki Mitsuo
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
lipids
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.601
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1558-9307
pISSN - 0024-4201
DOI - 10.1007/bf02536287
Subject(s) - lignan , sesamin , tocopherol , vitamin e , food science , chemistry , antioxidant , clinical chemistry , sesame seed , vitamin , lipidology , red blood cell , hemolysis , biochemistry , biology , zoology , botany , immunology , raw material , organic chemistry
Three series of experiments demonstrated that sesame seed and its lignans cause significant elevation of α‐tocopherol content in rats. In Experiment 1, 20% sesame seed (with a negligible amount of α‐tocopherol) supplementing 10 (low), 50 (normal), or 250 (high) mg/kg α‐tocopherol diets (protein and fat concentrations in diets were adjusted to 200 and 110 g/kg, respectively) all caused a significant increase of α‐tocopherol in the blood and tissue of rats. In Experiment 2, groups of rats were fed five different diets: a vitamin E‐free control diet, a low α‐tocopherol diet, and three low α‐tocopherol diets supplemented with 5, 10, and 15% sesame seed. Changes in lipid peroxides in liver, red blood cell hemolysis, and pyruvate kinase activity, as indices of vitamin E deficiency, were examined. These indices were high in the low α‐tocopherol diet, whereas supplementation with even 5% sesame seed suppressed these indices completely and caused a significant increase of α‐tocopherol content in the plasma and liver. In Experiment 3 two diets containing sesame lignan (sesaminol or sesamin) and low α‐tocopherol were tested. Results in both of the sesame lignan‐fed groups were comparable to those observed in the sesame seed‐fed groups as shown in Experiment 2. These experiments indicate that sesame seed lignans enhance vitamin E activity in rats fed a low α‐tocopherol diet and cause a marked increase in α‐tocopherol concentration in the blood and tissue of rats fed an α‐tocopherol‐containing diet with sesame seed or its lignans.