Gene‐diet interactions and serum α‐tocopherol concentrations

Inter‐individual differences in serum α‐tocopherol (α‐toc) concentrations may be due, in part, to genetic variations in α‐toc metabolism. The objective was to determine whether common polymorphisms in the α‐tocopherol transfer protein (α‐TTP) (rs6994076, T>A) and tocopherol associated protein (TAP) (rs2072157, C>T) genes influence serum α‐toc concentrations or modify the association between dietary and serum α‐toc. Subjects (n=449) between the ages of 20 and 29 years completed a food frequency questionnaire and provided a fasting blood sample for genotyping and measuring serum α‐toc by HPLC. Differences in serum α‐toc were observed between α‐TTP genotypes (p=0.03), but only when supplement users were excluded. No differences in serum α‐toc were observed between TAP genotypes. No significant interactions were observed between dietary α‐toc and either α‐TTP or TAP genotype on serum α‐toc, regardless of supplement use. When supplement users were included, the correlation co‐efficient (P‐value) between dietary and serum α‐toc for the TAP C/C, C/T and T/T genotypes was 0.24 (0.002), 0.20 (0.006) and 0.45 (0.002), respectively. When supplement users were excluded, the corresponding correlations were 0.05 (0.57), 0.12 (0.18) and 0.53 (0.003). These findings suggest that α‐TTP may influence fasting serum α‐toc concentrations and TAP may modify the strength of the association between diet and serum α‐toc. Grant Funding Source Advanced Foods and Material Network