Dietary sesame seed and its lignan, sesamin, increase tocopherol and phylloquinone concentrations in male rats.

We have shown that intake of sesame seed and its lignan increases vitamin E concentrations and decreases urinary excretion levels of vitamin E metabolites in male Wistar rats, suggesting inhibition of vitamin E catabolism by sesame lignan. The aim of this study was to examine whether dietary sesame seed also increased vitamin K concentrations, because its metabolic pathway is similar to that of vitamin E. To test the effect of sesame lignan on vitamin K concentrations, male Wistar rats were fed a control diet or a diet with 0.2% sesamin (a sesame lignan) for 7 d in experiment 1. Liver phylloquinone (PK), menaquinone-4 (MK-4), and γ-tocopherol were greater in rats fed sesamin than in control rats. To test the effect of sesame seed on vitamin K concentrations, male Wistar rats were fed a control diet or a diet with 1, 5, or 10% sesame seed for 3 d in experiment 2. Liver and kidney PK and γ-tocopherol but not MK-4 were greater in rats fed sesame seed than in control rats, although differences in dietary amounts of sesame seed did not affect the PK concentrations. For further confirmation of the effect of sesame seed, male Wistar rats were fed a control diet or a diet with 20% sesame seed for 40 d in experiment 3. Kidney, heart, lung, testis, and brain PK and brain MK-4 were greater in rats fed sesame seed than in control rats. The present study revealed for the first time, to our knowledge, that dietary sesame seed and sesame lignan increase not only vitamin E but also vitamin K concentrations in rat tissues.