AbstractWe have shown that sesame lignans added to rat diet resulted in significantly greater plasma and tissue concentrations of α‐ and γ‐tocopherol concentrations in supplemented rats than in rats without supplementation. In the present studies we examined whether sesaminol, a sesame lignan, enhances tocotrienol concentrations in plasma and tissues of rats fed diets containing a tocotrienol‐rich fraction of palm oil (T‐mix). In Ex‐periment 1, effects of sesaminol on tocotrienol concentrations in plasma, liver, and kidney were evaluated in rats fed diets containing 20 mg/kg of T‐mix (20T) and 50 mg/kg of T‐mix (50T) with or without 0.1% sesaminol. Although the T‐mix contained 23% α‐tocopherol, 22% α‐tocotrienol, and 34% γ‐tocotrienol, α‐tocopherol constituted most or all of the vitamin E in plasma and tissue (from 97% in kidney to 100% in plasma), with no or very little α‐tocotrienol and no γ‐tocotrienol at all. Addition of sesaminol to the T‐mix resulted in significantly higher plasma, liver, and kidney α‐tocopherol concentrations compared to values for T‐mix alone. Further, T‐mix with sesaminol resulted in significantly higher α‐tocotrienol concentrations in kidney, although the concentration was very low. In Experiment 2, we examined whether sesaminol caused enhanced absorption of α‐tocopherol and α‐tocotrienol in a dosage regimen supplying T‐mix and sesaminol on alternating days and observed significantly higher levels of α‐tocopherol and α‐tocotrienol in rats fed sesaminol, even without simultaneous intake, compared to those in rats without sesaminol. In Experiment 3, α‐tocopherol was supplied to the stomach with and without sesaminol, and α‐tocopherol concentrations in the lymph fluid were measured, α‐Tocopherol concentrations were not different between groups. These results indicated that sesaminol produced markedly higher α‐tocopherol concentrations in plasma and tissue and significantly greater α‐tocotrienol concentrations in kidney and various other tissues, but the concentrations of α‐tocotrienol were extremely low compared to those of α‐tocopherol (Exps. 1 and 2). However, the sesaminol‐induced increases of α‐tocopherol and α‐tocotrienol concentrations in plasma and tissue were not caused by their enhanced absorption since sesaminol did not enhance their absorption.