Bioconversion of Carotenoids in Five Fruits and Vegetables to Vitamin A Measured by Retinol Accumulation in Rat Livers

Abstract

Problem statement: Vitamin A deficiency is one of the most prevalent and major nutritional problems in developing countries, especially in young children. In many countries, a substantial proportion of dietary vitamin A is commonly derived from pro-vitamin A carotenoids obtained from colored fruits and orange or green vegetables. However, the bioavailability of retinol derived from carotenoids from these plant sources is not well known. Approach: The present study analyzed β-Carotene and Total Carotenoids (TC) composition of carrots (Daucus carota), parsley (Petroselinum crispum), Spinach (Spinacea oleracea), mangoes (Mangifera indica) and papayas (Carica papaya) and determined the bioconversion of their carotenoids to vitamin A by monitoring the levels of retinol accumulated in liver and plasma of Wistar rats (Rattus norvegicus). Products were freeze-dried, β-Carotene content analyzed by HPLC and TC by Spectrophotometry. Results: Carrots presented the highest content of β-carotene followed by parsley with 32.8 and 19.6 mg 100 g −1 , respectively. Spinach had the highest content of TC followed by parsley with 60.7 and 56.7 mg 100 g −1 , respectively. Four-week-old male Wistar rats received a standard diet as an adaptation period, a diet free of Carotenoids and Vitamin A (CVA-diet) as depletion period and finally a Fruit or Vegetable (FoV) based diet as repletion period. The highest β-carotene bioconversion was for mango and the lowest for parsley, whereas the highest TC bioconversion was for carrots and the lowest for parsley. There were no significant differences in plasma retinol between treatments. Conclusion/Recommendations: There was no relation between carotenoids content in FoV-based diet and retinol status in plasma. Furthermore, the employment of a general retinol conversion factor is regarded as not appropriate. So, it is recommended to consider specific conversion factors for groups of horticultural crops, for example, a factor for green leafy vegetables and other factor for fruits or roots.

Nutritional and health-promoting properties of tropical and subtropical fruits

“…Acerola fruit contains the highest known ascorbic acid content among all fruits (1000-3300 mg 100 gm −1 fresh weight), and some other good sources of vitamin C include guava, litchi, papaya and passion fruit (Yahia, 2006). Mango fruit is also a rich source of vitamin C (Carrillo-Lopez et al , 2010;Siddappa and Bhatia, 1954;Thomas, 1975;Yahia, 2006). Citrus fruit and their juices are rich sources of vitamin C: an 8 fl -oz serving of citrus juice was reported to supply the entire Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) amount of vitamin C (Rouseff and Nagy, 1994).…”

Effects of Vitamin A on Growth Performance, Antioxidant Status and Blood Constituents in Lactating Grey Goat

“…Liver is the primary storage site for vitamin A and serum level of retinol was used as an indicator of vitamin A status in the liver (Oka et al, 1998;Carrillo-Lopez et al, 2010;Myers et al, 1959). It is regarded that vitamin A intake is necessary to maintain the optimal level of vitamin A in blood (May et al, 1987).…”

Quantification of Zolpidem in Canine Plasma

“…It was necessary to validate each step in the analytical method so that this protocol can be utilised in future pharmacokinetic and toxicological studies (Salem and Abdallah, 2007;Carrillo-Lopez et al, 2010).…”