Postprandial Plasma Carotenoid Responses Following Consumption of
Strawberries, Red Wine, Vitamin C or Spinach by Elderly Women
Sergio AR Paiva, Kyung-Jin Yeum, Guohua Cao, Ronald L. Prior and Robert M. Russell
Jean Mayer United States Department of Agriculture, Human Nutrition Research
Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, MA, 02111 and Faculdade de Medicina
de Botucatu, UNESP, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 18618-000
ABSTRACT
This study investigated the postprandial plasma responses of carotenoids for
24 h after feeding five specific breakfast beverages; four of which had low or
no carotenoid content. In seven fasting healthy elderly female subjects a blood
sample (baseline) was obtained after which they were given a breakfast beverage
containing one of the following: 1) Strawberries (240 g); 2) ascorbic acid
(1250 mg); 3) spinach (294 g); 4) red wine (300 mL); and 5) control (breakfast
beverage only). Blood samples were collected at 0.5, 1, 4, 7, 11, 15, 24 h.
Plasma carotenoids were measured using HPLC. No significant differences were
found in the levels of the plasma carotenoids measured among the various
treatments of baseline. In the spinach treatment, plasma lutein, zeaxanthin and
beta-carotene levels at 7, 11, 15, 24 h were significantly higher than those at
baseline, as expected. All of the carotenoids measured in the control and
vitamin C treatments, at subsequent sampling times were not significantly
different from those at baseline. However, for most carotenoids, strawberry and
red wine feeding resulted in significantly lower carotenoids values from
baseline at 11 and 15 h. Subject who received a diet with low levels of
carotenoids, but whose postprandial plasma levels of carotenoids remain steady,
might be explained by a mechanism that promotes secretion of carotenoids into
the circulation. Assuming that plasma carotenoids are being used over time, we
hypothesize that strawberries and red wine contain some substances that
interfere with the secretion of carotenoids into the circulation.
