A European carotenoid database to assess carotenoid intakes and its use in a five-country comparative study

Abstract

A food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and carotenoid database with information on a-and bcarotene, lutein, lycopene and b-cryptoxanthin was prepared and used to compare the carotenoid intakes in five European countries: UK, Republic of Ireland, Spain, France and The Netherlands. Eighty, age-(25±45 years) and sex-matched volunteers were recruited in each of the five countries. A FFQ and carotenoid database was prepared of the most commonly consumed carotenoid rich foods in the participating countries and the information was used to calculate frequency and intake of carotenoid-rich foods. The median total carotenoid intake based on the sum of the five carotenoids, was significantly higher P , 0´05 in France (16´1 mg/day) and lower in Spain (9´5 mg/day,) than the other countries, where the average intake was approximately 14 mg/day. Comparison of dietary source of carotenoids showed that carrots were the major source of b-carotene in all countries except Spain where spinach was most important. Likewise, carrots were also the main source of a-carotene. Tomato or tomato products, were the major source of lycopene. Lutein was mainly obtained from peas in Republic of Ireland and the UK, however, spinach was found to be the major source in other countries. In all countries, bcryptoxanthin was primarily obtained from citrus fruit. Comparing the data with that from specific European country studies suggests that the FFQ and carotenoid database described in the present paper can be used for comparative dietary intake studies within Europe. The results show that within Europe there are differences in the specific intake of some carotenoids which are related to different foods consumed by people in different countries.Carotenoids: Food frequency questionnaire: Diet

Influence of habitual diet on antioxidant status: a study in a population of vegetarians and omnivores

“…Similarly, plasma b-cryptoxanthin level positively associated with fruits (especially citrus variety) intake. These findings are consistent with the results from major databases, which contain information on the main sources of carotenoids in foods (O'Neill et al, 2001;Garcia-Closas et al, 2004), suggesting that there are good correlations between carotenoid intake from foods and the respective carotenoid levels in plasma, findings supported by other epidemiological/ intervention studies (Trichopoulou et al, 2003;Brevik et al, 2004;Jansen et al, 2004). Epidemiological studies have shown negative associations between plasma level of several carotenoids and the risk of chronic degenerative diseases including cancers (Sato et al, 2002;Abnet et al, 2003;Steck-Scott et al, 2004), stroke (Hak et al, 2004) and macular degeneration (Gale et al, 2003).…”

“…The increased plasma carotenoids, resulting mainly from the increased vegetables intake in vegetarians could also reflect elevated levels of 'other' phytochemicals in blood/body, which have not been measured in this study, including polyphenols, phyto-oestrogens and organosulfer compounds that are thought to have antioxidant as well as other biologically important properties (Kris-Etherton et al, 2002). It should be noted that the plasma levels of b-cryptoxanthin were similar in the two diet groups, which was most likely to be owing to similar intakes of fruits between the vegetarians and omnivores, as fruits such as oranges are the major dietary sources of this carotenoid (O'Neill et al, 2001).…”

Dietary Determinants of Circulating Insulin-like Growth Factor (IGF)-I and IGF Binding Proteins 1, -2 and -3 in Women in the Netherlands

“…Therefore, the true intake of phytoestrogens and lycopene in our population may be underestimated. Overall, intake of phytoestrogens and lycopene in our study is relatively low, but comparable to that observed in many other Western populations [44,[58][59][60]. Within this low range, limited variation in phytoestrogens and related foods, and lycopene and tomato intake might explain why we did not observe an association with IGF-I and IGFBP-3.…”

Effects of enhanced consumption of fruit and vegetables on plasma antioxidant status and oxidative resistance of LDL in smokers supplemented with fish oil

“…Plasma concentrations of lycopene also increased but this increase did not reach a level of statistical significance. Additional lycopene would mainly come from the tomato soup, which would provide about 1.2 mg lycopene per day, based on the tomato content (O'Neill et al, 2001). The lack of change in plasma levels of retinol and a-tocopherol when fruit and vegetable intake was increased agrees with previous intervention studies.…”