The low prevalence rate of vitamin E deficiency in urban adults of Wuhan from central China: findings from a single-center, cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Vitamin E is an essential nutrient in human body famous for its antioxidant and non-antioxidant functions. However, little is known about vitamin E deficiency status in urban adults of Wuhan from central China. Our aim is to describe the distribution of both circulating and lipid-adjusted serum vitamin E concentration in urban adults of Wuhan. METHODS: We hypothesized that the prevalence rate of vitamin E deficiency would be low in Wuhan in consideration of the Chinese food composition. A cross-sectional study with 846 adults was performed in a single-center. Concentrations of vitamin E were measured by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). RESULTS: The median (interquartile range, IQR) of serum vitamin E concentration was 27.40 (22.89-33.20) µmol/L while that of serum vitamin E concentration adjusted by total cholesterol or the sum of cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG) (the sum of cholesterol and triglyceride, TLs) were 6.20 (5.30-7.48) and 4.86 (4.10-5.65) mmol/mol, respectively. No significant difference of the circulating and TC-adjusted vitamin E concentration was found between male and female except for vitamin E/TLs. However, concentrations of vitamin E increased significantly (r = 0.137, P < 0.001) with age, but lipid-adjusted concentrations of vitamin E did not. On analysis of risk factors, the subjects characterized by hypercholesterolemia are more likely to exhibit higher circulating but lower lipid-adjusted vitamin E level due to adequacy of the serum carriers for delivery of vitamin E. Only 0.47% of the population were below 12 µmol/L of vitamin E defined as functional deficiency. CONCLUSION: The prevalence rate of vitamin E deficiency in urban adults of Wuhan is low, which is important and useful to clinicians for clinical decision-making in public health practice.