The aim of this study was to assess the association between total vitamin A, retinol and carotene intakes and serum concentration of total carotenoids in Korean male smokers and nonsmokers. Food frequency and nutrient intakes of 64 healthy college students were estimated by the 24 hour recall method and food frequency questionnaire and analyzed by smoking status. Serum total cartenoids and lipid profiles were measured in 28 smokers and 36 nonsmokers. The mean total vitamin A, retinol and carotene intakes of smokers were not significantly different from nonsmokers. However, carotene intakes of the smokers who have smoked more than 5 packyears were significantly lower than those of nonsmokers. Smokers consumed green yellow leafy vegetables more often(P=0.005) and fresh fruits less often(P=0.017) than nonsmokers. The serum total carotenoids of smokers consuming the same amount of retinol and carotene as nonsmokers, 1.79 g/ml, were 17% lower than nonsmokers, 2.15 g/ml(P<0.05). The lipid profiles including total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, VLDL cholesterol and triglycerides of smokers were not significantly different from nonsmokers, however, the concentration of HDL cholesterol of smokers were significantly higher than that of nonsmokers. The serum carotenoids concentration was positively associated with fruit consumption frequency in smokers, and also was positively associated with green yellow leafy vegetable consumption frequency in non smokers. There were no correlations between dietary and serum carotenoids for smokers as well as nonsmokers. It was concluded that smoking could be inversely related to the serum concentration of carotenoids at constant carotene intakes and smokers might require more carotene to reach the same concentration comparable to nonsmokers.