β-Carotene Status Is Associated with Inflammation and Two Components of Metabolic Syndrome in Patients with and without Osteoarthritis

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the β-carotene status in osteoarthritis (OA) patients and examine its relationships with the risk of inflammation and metabolic syndrome. OA patients were stratified by obesity based on body fat percentage (obese OA, n = 44; non-obese OA, n = 56), and sixty-nine subjects without OA or obesity were assigned as a non-obese control group. β-carotene, metabolic parameters, and inflammation status were assessed. Obese OA patients exhibited a significantly higher rate of metabolic syndrome (p = 0.02), abdominal obesity (p < 0.01), and lower β-carotene status (p < 0.01) compared with non-obese OA and non-obese controls. After adjusting for potential confounders, β-carotene status (≥0.8 µM) was significantly inversely correlated with the risk of metabolic syndrome (odds ratio = 0.27, p < 0.01), abdominal obesity (odds ratio = 0.33, p < 0.01), high blood pressure (odds ratio = 0.35, p < 0.01), hyperglycemia (odds ratio = 0.45, p < 0.05), and inflammation (odds ratio = 0.30, p = 0.01). Additionally, subjects who had a high β-carotene status with a low proportion of metabolic syndrome when they had a low-grade inflammatory status (p < 0.01). Obese OA patients suffered from a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome and lower β-carotene status compared to the non-obese controls. A better β-carotene status (≥0.8 µM) was inversely associated with the risk of metabolic syndrome and inflammation, so we suggest that β-carotene status could be a predictor of the risk of metabolic syndrome and inflammation in patients with and without OA.

Association of Serum Beta-Carotene with Metabolic Risk Factors among a Work Cohort in Malaysia

“…A systematic review and meta-analysis (2) reported a strong inverse association of serum total carotenoids and beta-carotene with MetS occurrence. Consistent with the present findings, Yen et al (28) reported that beta-carotene status could be a predictor of MetS risk. This is the first discovery on the levels of serum beta-carotene among Malaysian adult population.…”

“…Participants from the lower quartiles of serum beta-carotene had higher odds of MetS and metabolic risk factors. Similar findings were reported by other researchers of different regions (9,(27)(28)(29)(30). Beta-carotene has been widely reported for its antioxidant capacity, which involves in controlling adipogenesis, production of adipokines and inflammatory mediators, as well as regulating glucose/insulin homoeostasis (31).…”

Synovial fluid research based on SERS and SERRS for enhanced detection of biomarkers in staged osteoarthritis

“…This indicates that RRS technique only induces resonance enhancement of molecular groups associated with the wavelength of excitation light, and other molecules or groups are still difficult to be detected effectively. The RRS intensity of the SF at the advanced OA group was extremely low, the spectral SNR was poor even could not be distinguished (so not shown here), which may be due to the low content of β ‐carotene in the SF, resulting in inconspicuous resonance bands [46].…”

Mechanistic study of Huangqi Guizhi Wuwu decoction in the treatment of osteoarthritis using a weighted gene co-expression network and molecular docking techniques

“…β-Carotene has been shown to prevent oxidative stress in adipocytes and reduce in ammatory responses. In addition to OA being an oxidative stress-related disease, studies have also shown that OA is closely related to metabolic status [23]. In OA patients, the β-carotene level is signi cantly negatively correlated with in ammation and metabolic disease [24]; OA patients can consume foods with high β-carotene content to relieve in ammation.…”