[Relation of total cholesterol in serum tocopherols, probabilistic study in Mexican children]

Epidemiological studies have shown the effect of nutritional status of tocopherols and development of cardiovascular diseases that now are more frequent during early years of life. In this work we evaluated the association between the total cholesterol and serum levels of tocopherols in a population of Mexican children in whom we measured the oxidant status and antioxidant capacity (December 2003). In 1155 children (12-59 months) residents of urban and rural locations we quantified in serum alpha-tocopherol, gamma-tocopherol and total cholesterol; the antioxidant capacity and oxidative status were evaluated with the production of TBARS. Children with serum cholesterol < 170 mg/dL had an average of 472.5 +/- 179.6 microg/dL tocopherol in serum and > or = 240 mg/dL cholesterol recorded an average of 577.3 +/- 200.8 microg/dL. However, when tocopherols were expressed in relation to total cholesterol (micromol/mmol) found that children with < 170 mg/dL had the highest ratios (3.06 +/-1.19) which places them in an adequate nutritional status of tocopherol, unlike the group with > or = 240 mg/dL of cholesterol in whom the relationship was low (1.93 +/- 0.69). There were no differences in serum antioxidant capacity, but if in the production of TBARS for children with > or = 200 mg/dL cholesterol. In preschools the increases in total cholesterol limits the availability of serum tocopherol for circulating lipids, this condition over time could determine the early development of vascular injury mediated by oxidative stress.