Association of Cigarette Smoking and Serum Concentrations of Vitamins A and E in Men: A Case-Control Study

Abstract

Background: Cigarette smoking is associated with changes in blood concentrations of some antioxidant vitamins. This study aimed to determine the association of cigarette smoking with serum concentrations of vitamins A and E in men. Methods: This was a case-control study, in which the participants were 80 male smokers and 84 male nonsmokers (age range: 20-60 years). Data on dietary intake, health status, smoking habits, anthropometric characteristics, and vitamin levels were compared between cases and controls. Results: Smokers had significantly lower concentrations of serum vitamin E (p = 0.001) and vitamin A (p = 0.013) compared with nonsmokers. However, serum vitamin E to cholesterol ratio was not significantly different between smokers and nonsmokers. Moreover, the highest circulating concentrations of vitamin E was observed in smokers who smoked ≤9 cigarettes per day (p < 0.03), while and the lowest vitamin E was seen in men smoking ≥20 cigarettes per day. Conclusion: The results of this study identified that cigarette smoking is associated with lower levels of serum vitamin E and vitamin A, although it was not associated with vitamin E to cholesterol ratio.