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The relative vitamin A value of 9‐cis‐ and 13‐cis‐β‐carotene did not differ in vitamin A‐depleted Mongolian gerbils
Author(s) -
Bresnahan Kara Allison,
Davis Christopher,
Tanumihardjo Sherry
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.25.1_supplement.975.11
Subject(s) - vitamin , carotene , retinol , provitamin , medicine , vitamin a deficiency , chemistry , zoology , biology , food science
The provitamin A biofortification of staple crops is a novel approach to ameliorating vitamin A status in countries where deficiency is prevalent. To assess the vitamin A impact of these crops, the unique bioefficacies of cis‐isomers, formed during cooking, as compared to all‐trans β‐carotene must be determined. We evaluated the vitamin A (VA) efficacy of 9‐cis‐ (9c) and 13‐cis (13c) isomers as compared with all‐trans (at) β‐carotene and VA‐positive and negative control groups in VA‐depleted Mongolian gerbils (n = 56). All gerbils were fed a VA‐deficient diet throughout the study. A 4‐wk depletion phase was followed by 3‐wk treatment with β‐carotene in cottonseed oil (7.33 ± 0.23 μg/day). The 13c group serum retinol concentrations (1.43 ± 0.13 μmol/L) differed from control groups (>1.67 μmol/L), but did not differ from the 9c, at, or VA groups. No treatment group maintained baseline liver stores (0.70 ± 0.21 μmol/liver). at liver stores (0.54 ± 0.15 μmol/liver) did not differ from the VA group (0.56 ± 0.10 μmol/liver) when fed 2:1, but did differ significantly from 13c (0.41 ± 0.14 μmol/liver) and 9c (0.44 ± 0.18 μmol/liver). The level of β‐carotene fed in this study did not maintain baseline liver reserves. In order to determine a true difference among isomers, a future study is needed at a higher dose. (Supported by a College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Honors Scholarship, Standard Process, Inc., and HarvestPlus 8907).