nutritional significance and measurement of carotenoids

8/10/2019 Nutritional Significance and Measurement of Carotenoids

1/14


2/14

ABSTRACT: Carotenoids are found in many fruitsand vegetables, are distributed widely in human tis-sues, and are partly responsible for the well-docu-

mented health benefits of diets rich in fruits and veg-etables. For example, lutein may help prevent cataractsand macular degeneration; -carotene and lycopeneprotect the skin from ultraviolet radiation damage;lutein and lycopene may benefit cardiovascular health,and lycopene may help prevent prostate cancer. Becauseof these and other marked health benefits, an accurateassessment of human carotenoid status is important.Carotenoid status can serve as a tool to monitor com-pliance to healthy diets rich in fruits and vegetablesor dietary supplements. Currently, carotenoid levels

are assessed with blood serum or plasma HPLC mea-surements. However, such methods are invasive, ex-pensive and impractical for general use in largepopulations. Skin carotenoid levels correlate well withblood levels and may more accurately indicate carot-enoid status, becauseunlike bloodskin carotenoidsare not influenced by postprandial fluctuations.Recently, a convenient, rapid and non-invasive mea-surement of skin carotenoid status using Raman spec-troscopy has been developed. is method can becomea strong motivator for people to consume the recom-mended five to nine fruits and vegetables daily andwell-balanced dietary supplements.


3/14


4/14


5/14


6/14


7/14


8/14


9/14


10/14


11/14


12/14


13/14


14/14

nutritional significance and measurement of carotenoids

Documents