Abstract
Sesame seeds and vitamin E are traditionally recognized to be food components that have anti-ageing effects. However, 98% of the vitamin E in sesame seeds is γ-tocopherol, which has low vitamin E activity. We observed that ingestion of sesame seeds resulted in higher concentrations of vitamin E in the animal body, and proved that the primary cause of high tocopherol concentrations in animals fed sesame seeds is that sesame lignan, a characteristic component of sesame seeds, inhibits the degradation of vitamin E to carboxyethylhydroxychroman. Inhibition of vitamin E metabolism is a unique characteristic of sesame seed lignans as compared with other plant lignans. We observed that tocotrienol is present specifically in the skin and adipose tissues. Accumulation of dietary tocotrienol in the skin prevents oxidative damage induced by UVB irradiation. Sesame lignans induce higher tocotrienol concentrations in the skin, and act together with tocotrienol to prevent oxidative damage induced by UVB irradiation.
