Tocotrienols - α-tocopherol Interference

α-tocopherol Interference

Various studies have shown that alpha-tocopherol interferes with tocotrienol benefits. This was first published by Qureshi et al. in 1996, where researchers administered varying amounts of α-tocopherol and/or tocotrienol to six groups of chickens. The group that received only a minimal amount of α-tocopherol showed the greatest reduction in lipid parameters, while the group with the highest amount of alpha-tocopherol had an increase in cholesterol production. A separate study confirmed that high levels of α-tocopherol increase cholesterol production. α-tocopherol interference with tocotrienol absorption was described previously by Ikeda et al., who showed that α-tococopherol interfered with absorption of α-tocotrienol, but not γ-tocotrienol. More recently, Japanese researchers found that tocopherols, and α-tocopherol in particular, interfered with δ-tocotrienol’s ability to induce apoptosis in cancer cells, while blocking the absorption of δ-tocotrienol. Finally, α-tocopherol was shown to interfere with tocotrienols by increasing their catabolism.