Antioxidant fortified margarine increases the antioxidant status

Abstract

Objective: To assess the effect of supplementation with an antioxidant forti®ed margarine on the body's antioxidant status and on parameters of oxidative damage to lipids. Design: Single blind, placebo controlled trial, two treatment groups balanced for sex, age and Quetelet Index. Setting: Unilever Research Laboratorium, The Netherlands. Subjects: Thirty-one healthy adult volunteers accomplished the study. Volunteers were recruited among inhabitants of the surrounding area of the research laboratory. Interventions: Volunteers consumed during the four weeks either 15 g/d of an antioxidant forti®ed margarine (providing 121 mg vitamin C, 31 mg vitamin E, 2.7 mg a-carotene and 5.3 mg b-carotene) or an ordinary margarine. Fasting blood samples were taken before and at the end of the study. Results: Consumption of the antioxidant forti®ed margarine signi®cantly increased the levels of the supplied antioxidants in plasma and LDL as compared to the changes found after consumption of the control margarine, with the largest increases found in LDL levels of a-carotene (15.5-fold increase, 95% CI: 8.4±27.8-fold) and bcarotene (4.3-fold increase, 95% CI: 2.2±7.9-fold). This increased antioxidant status in the antioxidant forti®ed margarine group resulted in a signi®cantly increased total antioxidant activity of LDL and resistance of LDL to oxidation (lag time and rate of oxidation) as compared to baseline but not in comparison to the changes found in the control group. Conclusion: Consumption of moderate doses of vitamin E, vitamin C, a-carotene and b-carotene, supplied in a full-fat margarine and consumed as part of a normal diet, effectively increases the blood levels of these antioxidants.

Designer egg evaluation in a controlled trial

“…It is interesting that the optimal value for a-tocopherol:cholesterol was estimated to be b 5.1 mmolammol (Gey, 1995). A similar response in plasma vitamin E was found after 10-week consumption of antioxidant-enriched margarine providing 31 mg vitamin Eaday (van het Hof et al, 1998). Vitamin E concentrations in the control and experimental group were in the physiological range (Weber et al, 1997).…”

“…For example, dairy products and other processed foods, including mayonnaise, margarine and dressings) containing DHA (Takahata et al, 1998) as well as n-3 enriched eggs (Van Elswyk, 1997;Leskanich & Noble, 1997) are already on the market in different countries. Antioxidant-forti®ed margarine is shown to be effective in the delivery of vitamins E and C as well as aand b-carotene to humans (van het Hof et al, 1998). Clearly, the egg has a great unexplored potential in terms of improvement of human diet, as indicated by this study.…”

“…In this respect antioxidant-forti®ed food (van het Hof et al, 1998;Reilly, 1998) can be considered as an important step in improvement of the diet. Based on the results of our analyses of eggs obtained from certain wild and free-range birds which were characterized by very high concentrations of n-3 fatty acids, vitamin E and lutein, it was decided to produce an egg which had enhanced levels of these components and also of Se, a so-called`designer egg'.…”

Influence of three rapeseed oil-rich diets, fortified with α-linolenic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid or docosahexaenoic acid on the composition and oxidizability of low-density lipoproteins: results of a controlled study in healthy volunteers

“…However, these findings were observed in studies with higher vitamin E doses or combinations of vitamin E with other antioxidants (e.g. carotene and vitamin C) (Brude et al, 1997;het Hof et al, 1998;Upritchard et al, 2003) and mainly affected the lag time. In the present study, the LDL a-tocopherol contents and the concentrations of tocopherol equivalents in plasma slightly decreased during the 3-week experimental period.…”

Adição da vitamina E aos alimentos: implicações para os alimentos e para a saúde humana

“…O consumo de 15g/dia de margarina fortificada com 121mg de vitamina C; 31mg de vitamina E, 2,7mg de α-caroteno e 5,3mg de β-caroteno, incluídos em uma dieta normal, durante quatro semanas, levou ao aumento dos ní-veis plasmáticos desses antioxidantes, bem como à maior resistência da LDL à oxidação 43 .…”