“…The lack of correlation between a-TOH in maternal serum with colostrum (r ¼ 0.073, P ¼ 0.440) has been reported (24,27,30,34,40). Dimenstein et al (24) proposed that the absence of correlation between these variables preclude the existence of passive transfer mechanisms during the passage of vitamin E from the mammary gland to the milk, thereby indicating the existence of a transport mechanism in the breast that is independent of plasma concentration. This could be valid because in late pregnancy and at the beginning of lactation, there is a gradual decrease in serum levels of a-TOH, which may explain the considerable increase in a-TOH in colostrum (37,41,42).…”