CARROT JUICE POWDER
Moderate Intervention with Carotenoid-Rich Vegetable Products Reduces Lipid Peroxidation in Men
Moderate Intervention with Carotenoid-Rich Vegetable Products Reduces Lipid Peroxidation in Men1
Achim Bub2, Bernhard Watzl, Leo Abrahamse*, Henry Delincée, Sieghard Adam, Joachim Wever3, Harald Müller3 and Gerhard Rechkemmer
Institute of Nutritional Physiology, Federal Research Centre for Nutrition, D-76131 Karlsruhe, Germany and * Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Department of Surgery, 110 Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Because of their antioxidant properties, carotenoids may have beneficial effects in preventing cancer and cardiovascular disease. However, in humans consuming carotenoid-rich vegetables, data concerning the antioxidant effects of carotenoids are rather scarce. A human intervention trial was conducted, therefore, to determine whether a moderately increased consumption of carotenoid-rich vegetables would influence the antioxidant status in 23 healthy men. This short-term feeding study lasted 8 wk during which the men consumed a low carotenoid diet. A 2-wk low carotenoid period was followed by daily consumption of 330 mL tomato juice, then by 330 mL carrot juice and then by 10 g of spinach powder, each for 2 wk. Antioxidant status [water-soluble antioxidants in serum, ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) and antioxidant enzyme activities] and lipid peroxidation (plasma malondialdehyde and ex vivo oxidation of LDL) were determined. In a subgroup of 10 men, lipoprotein carotenoids were measured. The consumption of carotenoid-rich vegetables significantly increased selected carotenoids in lipoproteins but had only minor effects on their relative distribution pattern. Tomato juice consumption reduced plasma thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) by 12% (P < 0.05) and lipoprotein oxidizability in terms of an increased lag time (18%, P < 0.05). Carrot juice and spinach powder had no effect on lipid peroxidation. Water-soluble antioxidants, FRAP, glutathione peroxidase and reductase activities did not change during any study period. In evaluating the low carotenoid diet, we conclude that the additional consumption of carotenoid-rich vegetable products enhanced lipoprotein carotenoid concentrations, but only tomato juice reduced LDL oxidation in healthy men.
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/130/9/2200
The extent to which processing affects the carotene or vitamin A value of foods is poorly understood. An extrinsic reference method was used to estimate the mass of carotenes and vitamin A derived from various preparations made from the same lot of carrots.
2002 The American Society for Nutritional Sciences J. Nutr. 132:159-167, 2002
- and ß-Carotene from a Commercial Carrot Puree Are More Bioavailable to Humans than from Boiled-Mashed Carrots, as Determined Using an Extrinsic Stable Isotope Reference Method
Alison J. Edwards, Christine H. Nguyen, Cha-Sook You, Joy E. Swanson, Curt Emenhiser* and Robert S. Parker2
Division of Nutritional Sciences and Department of Food Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 and * Gerber Products Company, Fremont, MI 49413
The extent to which processing affects the carotene or vitamin A value of foods is poorly understood. An extrinsic reference method was used to estimate the mass of carotenes and vitamin A derived from various preparations made from the same lot of carrots. Using a repeated-measures design, nine healthy adult subjects consumed test meals of either carrot puree (commercial baby food) or boiled-mashed carrots on separate days; six of the subjects also consumed a test meal of raw-grated carrot. Test meals supplied 34.7 µmol (18.6 mg) carrot ß-carotene (ßC), plus 6 µmol deuterium-labeled retinyl acetate (d4-RA) in oil solution. Baseline-adjusted carotene and retinyl ester (R-ester) area-under-curve (AUC) responses in the triacylglycerol-rich lipoprotein (TRL) fraction (0–8.5 h) were determined using HPLC and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The masses of absorbed ßC, 
-carotene (
C) and R-ester were estimated by comparing their AUC values with that of deuterium-labeled retinyl ester (d4-R-ester), assuming the latter represented 80% of the d4-RA reference dose. Absorption of ßC and 
C was approximately twofold greater from carrot puree than from boiled-mashed carrots, whereas the retinol yield was only marginally (P = 0.11) influenced by treatment. Carotene and R-ester absorption from raw-grated carrot was intermediate to, and did not differ significantly from the cooked preparations. The vitamin A yield (puree, 0.53 mg; boiled-mashed, 0.44 mg) of cooked carrot containing 18.6 mg ßC was substantially less than that predicted by current convention and limited primarily by intestinal carotene uptake. Processing can therefore significantly improve bioavailability of carrot carotenes, and in some cases influence the carotene value more than the intrinsic vitamin A value.
Consumption of vegetables reduces genetic damage in humans: first results of a human intervention trial with carotenoid-rich foods
Consumption of vegetables reduces genetic damage in humans: first results of a human intervention trial with carotenoid-rich foods
BL Pool-Zobel, A Bub, H Muller, I Wollowski and G Rechkemmer
Institute of Nutritional Physiology, Federal Research Centre for Nutrition, Karlsruhe, Germany.
A human intervention study with vegetable products has been performed in twenty three healthy, non smoking males aged 27-40. It was the aim of the study to assess whether consumption of vegetables containing different carotenoids could protect against DNA damage and oxidative DNA damage. The subjects consumed their normal diets, but abstained from vegetables high in carotenoids throughout the study period. After a 2 week depletion period, they received daily 330 ml tomato juice with 40 mg lycopene (weeks 3 and 4), 330 ml carrot juice with 22.3 mg beta- carotene and 15.7 mg alpha-carotene (weeks 5 and 6), and 10 g dried spinach powder (in water or milk) with 11.3 mg lutein (weeks 7 and 8). Blood was collected weekly and DNA damage was detected in peripheral blood lymphocytes with the 'COMET' assay. Oxidised DNA bases were detected by including an incubation step with endonuclease III. The supplementation of the diet with tomato, carrot or spinach products resulted in a significant decrease in endogenous levels of strand breaks in lymphocyte DNA. Oxidative base damage was significantly reduced during the carrot juice intervention. These findings support the hypothesis that carotenoid containing plant products exert a cancer- protective effect via a decrease in oxidative and other damage to DNA in humans.
http://carcin.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/18/9/1847
