The Journal of Nutrition Vol. 127 No. 9 September 1997, pp. 1833-1837
Copyright ©1997 by the American Society for Nutritional Sciences

Ingestion by Men of a Combined Dose of -Carotene and Lycopene Does Not Affect the Absorption of -Carotene but Improves That of Lycopene

Elizabeth J. Johnson, Jian Qin, Norman I. Krinsky^*, and Robert M. Russell

Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, MA 02111 and ^* Department of Biochemistry, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02111

A double-blind study was conducted in 10 healthy men to investigate serum -carotene and lycopene responses after ingestion of individual and combined doses of -carotene (BC) and lycopene. On each dosing day, a baseline blood sample was drawn, followed by an oral dose of 0.11 mmol (60 mg) of either all-trans BC or all-trans lycopene or by a combined oral dose of 0.11 mmol each. Subjects were tested with each of the three doses. The dose type was randomized. Blood (10 mL) was drawn at 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12 and 24 h after dosing. At 2 and 4 wk after the first dose, the protocol was repeated with the other doses. After ingestion of the BC dose, serum BC concentrations significantly decreased from baseline at 1 and 3 h followed by a continuous increase from baseline that was significant at 12 and 24 h (P < 0.01). Serum lycopene concentrations significantly increased from baseline at 5 h after the lycopene dose (P < 0.008) and returned to baseline thereafter. Ingestion of a combined dose of BC and lycopene resulted in a significant increase in serum concentrations of both BC and lycopene at 24 h (P < 0.05). The 24-h area under the curve (AUC) for BC was not different when BC was ingested alone or with lycopene, whereas the 24-h AUC for lycopene was significantly greater when lycopene was ingested with BC than when ingested alone (P < 0.05). Our data suggest that ingestion of a combined dose of BC and lycopene has little effect on the absorption of BC but improves that of lycopene in men.

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