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Serum β ‐carotene and α ‐tocopherol in horses fed β ‐carotene via grass‐meal or a synthetic beadlet preparation with and without added dietary fat
Author(s) -
Kienzle E.,
Kaden C.,
Hoppe P. P.,
Opitz B.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of animal physiology and animal nutrition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.651
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1439-0396
pISSN - 0931-2439
DOI - 10.1046/j.1439-0396.2003.00430.x
Subject(s) - bioavailability , meal , beta carotene , carotene , latin square , dry matter , chemistry , zoology , excretion , urine , alpha tocopherol , tocopherol , soybean meal , dietary fat , food science , vitamin , biology , vitamin e , biochemistry , rumen , antioxidant , fermentation , raw material , bioinformatics , organic chemistry
Summary The serum response of β ‐carotene as an indicator of bioavailability was compared after feeding β ‐carotene (0.8 mg/kg body weight) either from grass meal or a synthetic beadlet preparation (Lucarotin TM ). Both were each given without or with added dietary vegetable fat (2–2.5% vs. 6.6% fat in dry matter) in a Latin square design with four horses. The nutritionally complete diet was supplemented with α ‐tocopherol (4 mg/kg body weight). Each treatment period (4 weeks, two serum samples) was followed by a washout period of 4 weeks with low intakes of β ‐carotene (traces) and α ‐tocopherol (0.5 mg/kg body weight). Within 4 weeks of supplementation, serum β ‐carotene increased about 10‐fold, from a mean initial concentration of 0.05–0.53 μ mol/l. There was no effect of β ‐carotene source and of fat addition, respectively. Faecal excretion of β ‐carotene ranged from 55 to 81% of intake. No β ‐carotene was detected in any urine sample. Serum α ‐tocopherol (across all time points and animals, n = 64) was 14.5 μ mol/l. During supplementation, the values were significantly higher than during washout‐periods. Additional dietary fat did not affect the serum response. Faecal excretion of α ‐tocopherol ranged from 69 to 121% of intake. Fat addition resulted in a significant decrease of serum cholesterol. In conclusion, the natural and the synthetic source of β ‐carotene showed significant and identical bioavailability independent of additional fat.