American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 50, 375-380, Copyright © 1989 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc

ORIGINAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Vitamin E status of northern Canadian newborns: relation of vitamin E to blood lipids

JC Godel
Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.

Vitamin E status was determined in two groups of Canadian newborns: a northern group, mainly aboriginal (Indian and Inuit), and a southern group, mainly nonnative. Serum vitamin E, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels were measured in cord blood and ratios of vitamin E to both cholesterol (E:chol) and cholesterol plus triglyceride (E:chol + TG) were calculated. For the combined groups the mean serum concentration of vitamin E (8.71 +/- 2.45 mumol/L), cholesterol (1.77 +/- 0.46 mmol/L), and triglyceride (0.65 +/- 0.30 mmol/L) as well as the ratios E:chol (5.00 X 10(-3) +/- 1.26 X 10(-3) and E:chol + TG (3.60 X 10(-3) +/- 0.77 X 10(-3) were within normal limits. Significant north-south differences were found only in the mean triglyceride concentration, which was lower (p = 0.03), and E:chol + TG, which was higher (p = 0.002), in the northern than in the southern group. No differences attributable to differences in race were found. Only one infant, an Inuit in the northern group, was found to be deficient in vitamin E.