U.S. flagAn official website of the United States government
                    Here's how you know **Official websites use .gov**
                            
                            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
 **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
                            
                            A **lock** (                            
                              A locked padlock                                                      
                            
                            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Menu Agricultural Research Service
						
                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 close



Research
                Research Home
                            National Programs
                            Research Projects
                            Scientific Manuscripts
                            International Engagement
                            Scientific Software/Models
                            Databases and Datasets
                            Office of Scientific Quality Review
            Media
                News & Features
                            Multimedia
                            Briefing Room
                            Down on the Farm
                            Press Room
                            Science in Your Shopping Cart
                            Scientific Discoveries
                            Tellus
                            Under the Microscope
            About ARS
                About ARS Home
                            Staff Directory
                            Labs and Research Centers (Map)
                            Headquarter Offices
                            Organizational Chart
                            Employee Services (REE Employees Only)
                            Office of Outreach, Diversity, and Equal Opportunity
            Work With Us
                Work With Us Home
                            ARS Vacancies at USAJOBS
                            Careers at ARS Information
                            Scientific Collaborations
                            Extramural Agreements
                            1890 Faculty Research Sabbatical ProgramSearch small
                    Search
            
            ARS Home
                                About ARS
                                Contact Us




ARS Home Northeast Area Beltsville, Maryland (BHNRC) Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center Food Components and Health Laboratory Research Publications at this Location





- ARS National Programs
- Search for a scientific manuscript
- Search for a research project
- ARS Software
- Programs and Projects
- Collaborations
- Subjects of Investigation
- Publications

Title:   Author  item
                                            Novotny, Janetitem
                                            KURILICH, ANNE - DAIRY MANAGEMENT, INCitem
                                            Britz, Stevenitem
                                            Clevidence, Beverly
  Submitted to: Journal of Lipid Research
                                    Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
                                    Publication Acceptance Date: 5/10/2005
                                    Publication  Date: 5/16/2005
                                    Citation: Novotny Dura, J., Kurilich, A.C., Britz, S.J., Clevidence, B.A. 2005. Plasma appearance of labeled beta-carotene, lutein, and retinol in human consumption of iso topically-labeled kale. Available online: http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/asap.cgi/jafcau/asap/html/jf050570o.html.Interpretive Summary: Carotenoids are compounds that provide health-promoting effects of fruits and vegetables.  Kale is rich in two key carotenoids: lutein and beta-carotene.  Beta-carotene can form vitamin A, thus it is critical for battling vitamin A deficiency, the most widespread and serious nutritional deficiency in the world.  Lutein is the main nutritional component associated with decreasing risk of macular degeneration, the most common age-related cause of blindness.  To study the body's ability to absorb these carotenoids from kale, we added tags (called isotopes) to the nutrients within the vegetable itself.  The tags allow us to monitor the absorption of the nutrient into the body, since the tags prevent the nutrients from becoming lost in the body's pool of existing nutrient.  This pioneering method has revealed many new findings.  Our results show that lutein is absorbed much better than beta-carotene.  And even given this disparity, we have demonstrated that the best lutein absorbers are the best beta-carotene absorbers, suggesting some similarities in absorption (a poorly understood process).  We have also shown the formation of tagged vitamin A from the tagged beta-carotene, helping to address the very controversial question of how well plant foods can provide vitamin A.  These results provide extremely useful information for determination of dietary intake recommendations by health experts.  These results provide solid evidence to health professionals and policy makers for the ability of vegetable-based beta-carotene to provide vitamin A to needy populations.  And these data provide scientists with important correlations for understanding how these important compounds are absorbed.
                                Technical Abstract: The bioavailability of carotenoids from kale was investigated by labeling the nutrients in the kale with carbon-13, feeding the kale to 7 adults, and analyzing serial plasma samples for labeled lutein, beta-carotene, and retinol.  Peak plasma concentrations, area under the plasma concentration-time curves (AUC), enrichments of the endogenous plasma pools, and percents of dose recovered at peak plasma concentrations were calculated.  Average peak plasma concentrations for the 7 subjects were 0.38, 0.068, and 0.079 micromolar for labeled lutein, beta-carotene, and retinol, respectively.  Average AUC values were 42.8, 13.6, 13.2 micromolar-hr for labeled lutein, beta-carotene, and retinol, respectively.  Percent enrichments of endogenous plasma pools were 121%, 30%, and 2.7% for labeled lutein, beta-carotene, and retinol, respectively.  Percents of dose recovered at peak plasma concentrations were 3.6%, 0.7%, and 0.7% for labeled lutein, beta-carotene, and retinol, respectively.  Positive correlations were found between factors representing lutein and beta-carotene absorption as well as between beta-carotene and retinol plasma response.  It was concluded that lutein is substantially more bioavailable from kale than beta-carotene.  In addition, a positive correlation between lutein AUC and the sum of AUCs for beta-carotene and retinol supports the existence of common features of absorption between lutein and beta-carotene.


Return to top


Connect with ARS Sign up


ARS Home
                            USDA.gov
                            Plain Writing
                            Policies & Links
                            Civil Rights Statements
                            FOIA
                            Accessibility Statement
                            Privacy Policy
                            Non-Discrimination Statement
                            Quality of Information
                            USA.gov
                            WhiteHouse.gov