696 XI. VITAMINS E (tocopherols) 



normal man ; the following proportions (in mg.) were found in the several 

 organs: fat, 1,885; muscle, 285; blood, 64; liver, 45; pancreas, 7; 

 spleen, 4; heart, 3; kidney, 2; lung, 12; and testis, 2 (total, 2,309; 

 total on the basis of 70 kg. weight, 3,440). In the case of a woman, the 

 total was estimated at 8.12 g. for a normal 50 kg. woman. The values of 

 tocopherol recorded in the several tissues (in mg.) were as follows: fat, 

 6,180; muscle, 269; blood, 45; liver, 33; pancreas, 10; spleen, 7; heart, 

 4; kidney, 10; uterus, 2 (total, 6,560; total on the basis of 50 kg. weight, 

 8,120). Although these data are for only one subject of each sex, it would 

 appear that a marked sex difference exists in line with variations in the 

 content of other lipids. There was a fifty -fold variation in the concentra- 

 tion of tocopherols in human tissues on the wet basis, but only an eight- 

 fold variability when the tocopherol content was based upon the fat 

 present; in this case the values varied from 0.2 to 1.2 mg./g. Hpid. The 

 tocopherol consisted primarily of a-tocopherol (91% in the case of the man 

 and 88% for the woman). Human muscle (and also rat muscle) has been 

 reported to contain from 17 to 30 mg. tocopherol/kg. wet muscle.^"" 

 Mason, Dju, and Chapin^"^ noted that the total tocopherols present in 

 eight different muscles examined, of eight visceral organs, and of adipose 

 tissue from a twenty-one-year-old patient with advanced progressive 

 muscular dystrophy, were in the normal range; however, these investi- 

 gators^"^ suggest that this does not necessarily rule out the possibility of a 

 congenital or acquired metabolic defect in the utilization of tocopherols by 

 skeletal muscle. 



Human milk has a much higher tocopherol content than does cow's 

 milk. Quaife^^ gives a figure of 0.14 mg. % for the proportion of tocoph- 

 erol in human milk, although a value as high as 3.6 mg. % has been 

 reported for the colostrum of women during the first week following parturi- 

 tion. In a later study, Harris, Quaife and 'Grady ^^^ recorded a some- 

 what higher mean value for tocopherol in human milk, namely 0.24 mg. 

 % (range 0.10 to 0.48%), or about 80 ng./g. fat. Tocopherol values did 

 not vary with the stage of lactation, but could be correlated with the fat 

 content of the milk. Tocopherol in human milk was found to be stable on 

 pasteurization. Neuweiler^"^ states that, in the human mother, the ad- 

 ministration of vitamin E increased the content of this vitamin in the milk 

 only if the milk was previously deficient in tocopherol. In the case of the 



100 H. Kaunitz and J. J. Beaver, /. Biol. Chem., 166, 205-217 (1946). 



101 K. E. Mason, M. Y. Dju, and S. J. Chapin, Federation Proc, 12, 422 (1953). 



102 p. L. Harris, M. L. Qviaife, and P. O'Grady, J. Nutrition, 46, 459-466 (1952). 



103 W. Neuweiler, Z. Vitaminforsch., 20, 108-il6 (1948). 



