Carotene-rich plant foods ingested with minimal dietary fat enhance the total-body vitamin A pool size in Filipino schoolchildren as assessed by stable-isotope-dilution methodology

Abstract

Carotene-rich yellow and green leafy vegetables, when ingested with minimal fat, enhance serum carotenoids and the total-body vitamin A pool size and can restore low liver vitamin A concentrations to normal concentrations.

African leafy vegetables consumed by households in the Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal provinces in South Africa

“…A recent study showed that a minimal amount of fat (as low as 2.4 g) is needed for optimal bioavailability and effectiveness of plant carotenoids. 33 At both the KZN study sites oil was added during preparation, which can be expected to enhance the nutritional benefits from the leaves in terms of vitamin A. However, at the rural Limpopo site no oil was added to the dish, and the leaves were eaten mostly with a starchy staple, which would limit the bioavailability of β-carotene.…”

Influence of carotene-rich vegetable meals on the prevalence of anaemia and iron deficiency in Filipino schoolchildren

“…Schoolchildren, 54 girls and 65 boys, aged 9-12 years, from two elementary schools located in the adjacent rural communities of Banawang and Atillano Ricardo in Bagac, Bataan province, Philippines, were recruited in June 2004 to participate in a food-intervention study to investigate the influence of amounts of dietary fat on the bioavailability of plant carotenoids (Ribaya-Mercado et al, 2007). All the subjects were in generally good health, with no chronic or acute illnesses, febrile conditions or gastrointestinal problems; they had no overt diagnostics clinical signs of vitamin A or iron deficiency, and they did not take any nutritional supplements or medications during the time of study.…”

“…The details of the dietary intervention have already been described (Ribaya-Mercado et al, 2007). Briefly, the children were fed standardized meals three times daily (that is, before the start of morning class, at lunch time and after the last afternoon class) on school days (5 days/week) for 9 weeks at their schools.…”

“…Because the goal of the dietary intervention was to determine the influence of amounts of dietary fat on the bioefficacy of plant provitamin A carotenoids in improving vitamin A status (Ribaya-Mercado et al, 2007), the children were divided into three treatment groups, and their meals provided different amounts of dietary fat from refined coconut oil, that is, either 2.4, 5 or 10 g fat/meal, which are equivalent to fat intakes of 7, 15 or 29 g/day. By adjusting their carbohydrate content, the meals provided similar amounts of energy.…”

“…Estimation of the total-body vitamin A pool size was carried out using the deuteratedretinol-dilution technique, whereas serum retinol and carotene concentrations were analysed using a gradient reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography procedure (Ribaya-Mercado et al, 2007). Whole blood Hb was measured on-site using a HemoCue B-Hemoglobin photometer (HemoCue, Angelholm, Sweden), and anaemia was defined as Hb concentration o11.5 g per 100 ml (UNICEF/UNU/WHO, 2001).…”