Moderator's note: message from Michael J Rae, [log in to unmask]

All:

There's been a fair amont of research over the last few years into the
absorption and retention of members of the vitamin E complex. The
"alpha-tocoherol transfer protein" is an hepatic mechanism whereby the body
conserves a-tocopherol preferrentially by incorporating it actively into
LDL; not only are other tocoperols not conserved by ATTP, but gamma
tocopherol is actually prefe-rentially excreted as well, as part of a blood
pressure regulating measure (the metabolite, LLU-alpha, into which g-toco is
degraded before excretion is a natriuretic factor).

There has been some speculation that the a-toco conservation might reflect a
relative lack of this member of the E complex in the paleolithic diet, so
that deliberate conservation was necessary in the face of competition from
other tocos at the level of absorption. the modern typical N American diet
does indeed contain much more g-toco than a-; however, the typical Euroean
diet actually has more a-.

So: has anyone done any research, or seen any research, or would anyone
consider DOING research, to investigate the relative proportions of the
tocopherols in the Paleodiet, via hunter-gatherer diets eg?

Thanks!

-Michael

Reference
Brigelius-Flohe R, Traber MG. Vitamin E: function and metabolism. FASEB J
1999 Jul;13(10):1145-55

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