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Serum concentrations of β-carotene, vitamins C and E, zinc and selenium are influenced by sex, age, diet, smoking status, alcohol consumption and corpulence in a general French adult population

Abstract

Objective:

To assess relationships between energy, nutrient and food intakes, alcohol consumption, smoking status and body mass index (BMI), and serum concentrations of β-carotene, α-tocopherol, vitamin C, selenium and zinc.

Methods:

Data on health status, alcohol consumption, smoking habits, anthropometric data and biochemical measurements were obtained in 1821 women aged 35–60 y and 1307 men aged 45–60 y, participant to the SU.VI.MAX Study. Data on dietary intake were available on a subsample who reported six 24-h dietary records during the first 18 months of the study.

Results:

Women had higher baseline serum β-carotene and vitamin C concentrations and lower concentration for serum vitamin E, zinc and selenium than men. In women, younger age was associated with lowered mean concentration of serum β-carotene, vitamin E and selenium. In men, only differences were observed for serum zinc, which was lower in older men. Current smokers of both sexes had significantly lower concentrations of serum β-carotene, vitamin C and selenium, and, only in women, of vitamin E, than nonsmokers. Alcohol consumers had lower concentrations of serum β-carotene and higher selenium concentrations. Serum β-carotene and vitamin C concentrations were lower in obese subjects. There were positive associations of dietary β-carotene, vitamin C and E with their serum concentrations. Age, nutrient and alcohol intakes, serum cholesterol, BMI and smoking status explained 15.2% of the variance of serum β-carotene in men and 13.9% in women, and 10.8 and 10.0% for serum vitamin C, and 26.3 and 28.6% for serum vitamin E, respectively.

Conclusion:

Serum antioxidant nutrient concentrations are primarily influenced by sex, age, obesity, tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption and especially dietary intake of those antioxidant nutrients.

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Acknowledgements

The SU.VI.M.AX project received support from public and private sectors. Special acknowledgements are adressed to UBF, Fruit d'Or Recherche, Lipton, Cereal, Candia, Kellogg's, CERIN, LU/Danone, Sodexho, L'Oréal, Estée Lauder, Peugeot, Jet Service, RP Scherer, France Telecom, Becton Dickinson, Fould Springer, Boehringer Diagnostic, Seppic Givaudan Lavirotte, Air Liquide, Carboxyque, Klocke, Trophy Radio, Jouan, Perkin-Elmer, Carlo Erba and CHU de Grenoble. FEV received partial support from NCMHD Grant 1 P60 MD00222-01 and FEV and SC received an ALFEDIAM bourse 2004.

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Contributors: SB and NA did the data statistical analysis. PG, SH, AF and AMR were primarily responsible for writing the manuscript. FV, SC, AF, A-MR, SH contributed ideas for analysis and editing the paper. HF, SR, JA and SC carried out vitamin and trace-elements analyses. PG and SH supervised the whole process.

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Galan, P., Viteri, F., Bertrais, S. et al. Serum concentrations of β-carotene, vitamins C and E, zinc and selenium are influenced by sex, age, diet, smoking status, alcohol consumption and corpulence in a general French adult population. Eur J Clin Nutr 59, 1181–1190 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602230

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