Serum concentrations of carotenoids and vitamins A, E, and C in control subjects from five European countries

Abstract

High intakes of fruits and vegetables, or high circulating levels of their biomarkers (carotenoids, vitamins C and E), have been associated with a relatively low incidence of cardiovascular disease, cataract and cancer. Exposure to a high fruit and vegetable diet increases antioxidant concentrations in blood and body tissues, and potentially protects against oxidative damage to cells and tissues. This paper describes blood concentrations of carotenoids, tocopherols, ascorbic acid and retinol in well-defined groups of healthy, non-smokers, aged 25±45 years, 175 men and 174 women from five European countries (France, UK (Northern Ireland), Republic of Ireland, The Netherlands and Spain). Analysis was centralised and performed within 18 months. Withingender, vitamin C showed no significant differences between centres. Females in France, Republic of Ireland and Spain had significantly higher plasma vitamin C concentrations than their male counterparts. Serum retinol and a-tocopherol levels were similar between centres, but g-tocopherol showed a great variability being the lowest in Spain and France, and the highest in The Netherlands. The provitamin A: non-provitamin A carotenoid ratio was similar among countries, whereas the xanthophylls (lutein, zeaxanthin, b-cryptoxanthin) to carotenes (acarotene, b-carotene, lycopene) ratio was double in southern (Spain) compared to the northern areas (Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland). Serum concentrations of lutein and zeaxanthin were highest in France and Spain; b-cryptoxanthin was highest in Spain and The Netherlands; trans-lycopene tended to be highest in Irish males and lowest in Spanish males; a-carotene and b-carotene were higher in the French volunteers. Due to the study design, the concentrations of carotenoids and vitamins A, C and E represent physiological ranges achievable by dietary means and may be considered as`reference values' in serum of healthy, non-smoking middle-aged subjects from five European countries. The results suggest that lutein (and zeaxanthin), bcryptoxanthin, total xanthophylls and g-tocopherol (and a-: g-tocopherol) may be important markers related to the healthy or protective effects of the Mediterranean-like diet.

Differential response of plasma and immune cell's vitamin E levels to physical activity and antioxidant vitamin supplementation

“…These findings are in agreement with those of previous authors (Ford & Sowell, 1999;Lenton et al, 2000;Olmedilla et al, 2001), and show that the studied subjects widely covered the lowest acceptable vitamin E level in plasma (11.6 mmol/l) and vitamin E/cholesterol ratio (2.25 mmol/mmol) (Scientific Committee for Food of the European Community, 1993). Furthermore, the higher vitamin E/cholesterol ratio in plasma registered in supplemented subjects is due to the low cholesterol plasma levels observed in these subjects.…”

Factors influencing blood concentration of retinol, α-tocopherol, vitamin C, and β-carotene in the French participants of the SU.VI.MAX trial

“…Our results are also consistent with those of Saintot et al (1995) in France, and of Scott in the United Kingdom (Scott et al, 1996), but they differ from those reported in Switzerland (Winklhofer-Roob et al, 1997) where the authors did not find gender-related difference in retinol, vitamin E, and carotenoïds, and found higher vitamin concentrations in the winter. Concerning seasonal variations, our results differ from those of Olmedilla et al (1994Olmedilla et al ( , 2001) obtained in Spain where no significant difference in serum retinol and a-tocopherol was reported within the year. These authors also reported higher serum b-carotene in the summer, but not in the autumn, and only in men.…”

“…The altered status of vitamin C in the Min.Vit.Aox study may be due to the age of volunteers included in that study (65-103 years of age) and to the fact that these volunteers were institutionalized. Olmedilla et al (2001) reported similar results in his French cohort, in 2001. Our results are also close to those reported in the USA in the NHANES study on retinol (Ballew et al, 2001), but the concentrations found in France were slightly higher.…”

Selenium and antioxidant vitamin status of elderly German women

“…Thus, one-quarter of the sample had serum alpha-tocopherol concentrations below the desirable threshold of 30 mmol/l (Weber et al, 1997;Gey, 1998). The mean alpha-tocopherol concentration of 34.4 mmol/l in our study was similar to those found in younger European women in different countries (Olmedilla et al, 2001).…”

“…Compared with other European studies with younger participants, the mean ascorbic acid serum concentration was quite high in our sample (Olmedilla et al, 2001). The mean was more than twice as high as the estimated preventive threshold of 450 mmol/l and only two women had concentrations below this value.…”