The effect of oral vitamin e (800IU/day) and C (500mg/day) supplementation for 10 days and/or smoking cessation for 5 days on oxidative damage to the red blood cells (RBC) of male smokers (22.2$pm$0.2 years old) was studied. RBC were tested for their ability to protect against smoking-induced oxidative damage by measuring heme proteins (carboxyhemoglobin, hemoglobin, methemoglobin, oxyhemoglobin), hemolysis and thiobarbiturinc acid reactive substances (TBARS). Plasma levels of vitamin c, A, E, $eta$-catotene, total cholesterol, glutamic pyruvic transaminase(GPT) and glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase(GOT) were also analyzed. In experiment one, a comparison was made of heme proteins and lipid damage to RBC, plasma antioxidant status (indexed by plasma levels of vitamin C, E, A and $eta$-carotene) between smokers(n=56) and non-smokers (n=16). No differences were found in plasma antioxidant status, heme protein damage and TBARS concentration of RBC. In experiment two, 46 fasting male smokers from experiment one were divided into 4 groups. The groups were smoking with placebo group(SP, n=14), smoking cessation with vitamins supplementatin group (SV, n=13), smoking cessation with placebo group (NSP, n=9) and smoking cessation with vitamins supplementation group (NSV, n=10). After supplementing antioxidant vitamins, significant increases were seen in plasma vitamins supplementation group (NSV, n=10). After supplementing antioxidant vitamins, significant increases were seen plasma vitamin C (p<0.05) and vitamin E levels (p<0.05). The plasma vitamin E level was highest in the NSV group. Vitmain E and C supplementation provided some protection against heme proteins and lipid damage by lowering methemoglobin, hemolysis and TBARS concentration of RBC. Smoking cessation significantly decreased TBARS of RBC and plasma total cholesterol concentration. Supplementing vitamin E and C with smoking cessation considerably lowered plasma total cholesterol. These results point to a special association among smoking, oxidative damage and plasma antioxidant vitamin status. They indicate that increases in plasma antioxidant status can be detected after the supplementation of vitamin C and E and that smoking cessation had an additional effect on plasma vitamin E level. The present data suggest that improved antioxidant status induced by antioxidant supplementation or smoking cessation may help prevent oxidative damage in smokers.