[Materno-fetal nutritional status related to vitamin E]

There are few papers about the placental transfer of vitamin E in human beings. It is known that umbilical cord vitamin E levels are significantly lower than in mother's plasma. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between the vitamin E nutritional state between newborn infants and their mothers. The plasma levels of vitamin E and lipids at birth have been measured by using spectrophotometric methods. The statistical analysis (Student's "t" test for paired data) shows that the plasma levels of vitamin E in the newborn infants are significantly lower than that their mother's, but the nutritional indices (vitamin E/phospholipids and vitamin E/total lipids) show no statistical differences. There is a close correlation between umbilical cord vitamin E concentration and vitamin E levels in the mother's plasma. We have demonstrated that the vitamin E nutritional state of term newborn infants is equivalent to that of their mothers. On the other hand, nutritional indices such as vitamin E/phospholipids and vitamin E/total lipids, are better than the single vitamin E levels to evaluate the nutritional state of tocopherol.