The new study, funded by vitamin maker BASF and first reported at a major conference on vitamin E last year, reveals for the first time a potential delivery mechanism for dietary vitamin E reaching the skin via sebaceous gland secretion.
Researchers led by Professor Jens Thiele at the Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago had previously shown that sebum contains the highest concentrations of alpha-tocopherol found in human skin and accounts for the high levels of vitamin E found in the outermost layers of the skin and in skin surface lipids.
The theory was tested on 24 healthy volunteers, randomized to receive a daily supplement of either 400 mg synthetic alpha-tocopherol or natural source alpha-tocopherol for two weeks.
Serum alpha-tocopherol levels were significantly increased as early as 12 hours after the first supplements were taken, peaking on day seven, with an average increase of 76 per cent and 79 per cent, respectively.
Sebum levels remained unchanged during the first 14 days of supplementation but after two weeks, both vitamin E groups saw alpha-tocopherol levels in sebum increase by 87 per cent and 92 per cent, respectively.
“The results suggest that sebaceous gland secretion is a major mechanism leading to site-specific differences,” write the researchers in a special issue of the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences (2004; 1031: 184).
Steve - This study was posted not so much for the content, but for whom the study was funded. Just like with drug companies who fund their own studies, one must proceed with caution when vitamin manufacturers fund their own studies, as is the case here. Hopefully, now that one study was done, other independent research can be done on this topic.
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