ISHS Acta Horticulturae 841: II International Symposium on Human Health Effects of Fruits and Vegetables: FAVHEALTH 2007
CAROTENOID CONTENT OF FIVE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES AND THEIR BIOCONVERSION TO VITAMIN A MEASURED BY RETINOL ACCUMULATION IN RAT LIVERS |
| Authors: | E.M. Yahia, G.K. Ramirez-Padilla, A. Carrillo-Lopez |
| Keywords: | carotenoids, fruits, green-leafy vegetables, retinol, vitamin A, bioconversion |
| DOI: | 10.17660/ActaHortic.2009.841.97 |
| Abstract:
Fresh samples of carrots, parsley, spinach, mangoes and papayas were partially characterized by evaluating their color, total soluble solids and humidity, and the edible portion was frozen with liquid nitrogen and freeze-dried. Carrots presented the highest content of β-carotene followed by parsley, spinach, mangoes and papayas, with 32.8, 19.6, 19.1, 2.6, and 1.2 mg/100g, respectively. Spinach had the highest content of total carotenoids followed by parsley, carrots, papaya and mango, with 60.7, 56.7, 40.9, 13.9 and 5.5 mg/100g, respectively. Four-week-old male Wistar rats were given a standard diet for two weeks as an adaptation period, followed by a carotenoid and vitamin A-free diet for 12 weeks (depletion period). The rats were divided in groups and received the different treatments (each containing 100 μg  -carotene), in addition to their vitamin A-free diet, for 14 days.
Liver and plasma retinol was analyzed by HPLC, and the bioconversion was based on "Retinol Accumulation Factor" (RAF), which was calculated by dividing the β-carotene (RAF) or total carotenoids (RAFTC) intake by the total retinol accumulated in the liver.
RAF values were 1/5.99 for papayas, 1/6.4 for carrots, 1/6.52 for mangoes, 1/12.2 for spinach and 1/27.2 for parsley.
RAFTC values were 1/7.9 for carrots, 1/11.3 for mangoes, 1/38.7 for spinach, 1/78.7 for parsley and 1/70.5 for papaya.
There were no significant differences in plasma retinol between treatments.
Therefore, carotenoids from papaya, carrots and mangoes are more bioavailable sources since they produced a better conversion to retinol, while green leafy vegetables were less effective in accumulating liver retinol.
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