[Effect of nutritional status on absorption kinetics of vitamin E in mucoviscidosis]

Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency with varying severity must be anticipated in 85-95% of CF patients. It leads to fat maldigestion and malabsorption of the liposoluble vitamins - A, D, E, K - and fecal loss of fat. In general, supplementation with fat-soluble vitamins is recommended in CF patients. In this study an oral vitamin E tolerance test (100 mg/kg bodyweight) was performed in 5 healthy adult volunteers to elaborate a vitamin E absorption kinetics and additionally in CF patients on medication with pancreatic enzymes to evaluate the absorption of vitamin E. 19 CF patients (ages 4 to 19 years) were studied after cessation of any additional vitamin E supplementation for 7 days. Vitamin E serum concentrations were sampled over a 72 hour period. Serum vitamin E determinations were performed with a HPLC-fluorescence technique. The kinetics of Vitamin E in healthy volunteers can be described with an open 2 compartment model. CF patients revealed consistently an altered kinetics of absorption of vitamin E, which was not compatible with this model. Baseline (c*) and maximal serum concentrations (cmax) of vitamin E as well as the area outer the oral absorption curve (AUC) correlated with the nutritional status expressed by bodyweight percentiles in CF patients. The results of this study show that in normal weight CF patients on pancreatic enzymes medication vitamin E depletion is unlikely.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)