Lower serum levels of β-carotene in Lithuanian men are accompanied by higher urinary excretion of the oxidative DNA adduct, 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine: The LiVicordia study

Objective In 1995, middle-aged Lithuanian men had a four-fold higher risk than Swedish men of dying from coronary heart disease. The cross-sectional LiVicordia study had reported significantly lower levels of the lipid-soluble antioxidants lycopene, β-carotene, and γ-tocopherol among Lithuanian men than among Swedish men. We examined whether there were differences in urinary 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8OHdG), a marker of oxidative stress, between these groups of men. Methods Using automated coupled column high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection, we examined 50-y-old men randomly sampled from Linköping, Sweden (n = 99) and Vilnius, Lithuania (n = 109) with regard to urinary concentrations of 8-OHdG. Results Levels of 8-OHdG were higher in the Lithuanian men than in the Swedish men (20.9 ± 0.91 versus 14.9 ± 0.75 nM/L, P < 0.001), and this difference was evident in smokers (P < 0.01) and non-smokers (P < 0.001). Serum levels of α- and β-carotene were inversely correlated to urinary 8-OHdG levels (P < 0.05 in both cases). Habitual smoking and low levels of β-carotene contributed significantly to higher oxidative DNA damage expressed as urinary 8-OHdG. Conclusions These findings indicate that increased urinary 8-OHdG levels accompany lower serum levels of antioxidants in Lithuanian men. They supported previous suggestions that increased oxidative stress may be one factor behind the higher mortality in Lithuanian men.