Cross-cultural comparison of serum carotenoid levels among African Americans, Mexican Americans and Nigerians

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-20-1998

Abstract

Epidemiologic studies demonstrate an association between carotenenoids and chronic disease risk as well as the utility of these nutrients as biomarkers of fruit, vegetable and related food intake. While a relationship between carotenoid intake and serum response has been reported, little information is available to characterize relationships cross-culturally. We determined serum levels of alpha carotene (AC), beta carotene (BC), cryptoxanthin (CX), lycopene (LY) and lutein/zeaxanthin (LZ) as measures of dietary exposure in a sample of African American (n= 50, age 47.2 ± 14.0 years) and Mexican American (n= 47, age 39.9 ± 15.5 years) adults in Chicago, Illinois, and Nigerian (n = 35, age 42.1 ± 19.8 years) residents of the city of Ibadan who participated in community-based studies. Significantly higher serum levels were observed for Nigerians compared to African Americans and Mexican Americans respectively, for AC (121.3±48.6, 2.6±3.3, 3.9±2.40 ug/dl; p<.0001), BC (184.3± 87.8, 16.2±14.5, 19.9 ± 13.5 ug/dl; p<.0001) and LZ (29.0 ± 10.9, 20.7± 9.0,20.5± 8.8 ug/dl; p<.0003). Serum LY was significantly higher in African Americans and Mexican Americans compared to Nigerians (47.7±24.2, 40.7 ± 16.9,13.5± 6.8 ug/dl; p<.0001), white LY levels were not different between African Americans and Mexican Americans. Mexican Americans had higher serum levels of CX than either their African American or Nigerian counterparts (19.4 ±9.9, 8.1 ±5.3,10.5 ±4.2 ug/dl; p<.0001). These differences between groups remained significant when controlling for body habitus, smoking and alcohol consumption. Results demonstrate that serum carotenoid levels can vary significantly in magnitude cross-culturally, ranging from 1.5 to 40 fold, underscoring me utility of these biomarkers in characterizing dietary diversity as well as consumption of specific carotenoid containing foods. These observations may contribute to our understanding of differences in disease risk across populations.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

FASEB Journal

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS