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Session: Carotenoids and Retinoids in Focus: Insights into Delivery, Vision, and Disease Prevention (Oral 8)

(OR08-01-24) Effect of a Four-week Intervention Using Baby Carrots or Multivitamin Supplements on Skin-Carotenoid Scores in Young Adults

Sunday, June 30, 2024
8:00 AM – 8:12 AM CT
Location:  W183
Objectives: Only 9% of American adults meet the recommended daily intake of 2.5 cups of vegetables, and 12% the recommended daily intake of 1.5 cups of fruit. High serum carotenoid levels reflect high fruit and vegetable intake. The goal of this study was to evaluate skin carotenoid accumulation, using VeggieMeter®, a validated spectroscopy-based non-invasive device, in young adults receiving provitamin A carotenoids from baby carrots and/or a multivitamin-multimineral (MVMM) supplement. We hypothesized that a 4-week dietary intervention with baby carrots will significantly increase skin carotenoid levels compared to a multivitamin supplement.

Methods: Sixty young adults were randomly assigned to experimental groups receiving either a 4-week intervention of baby carrots (BC, 100 g/day, 3 days/week), or a multivitamin-multimineral supplement (MVMM, NatureMade, Multi for Adults with Iron, 5 days/week), or a combination of baby carrots and MVMM (BC+MVMM), or to a control group who received 100 g Granny Smith apple slices/day, 3 days/week, for a period of 4 weeks. Interventional groups received comparable amounts of provitamin A carotenoids from baby carrots (approximately 2,505 mcg RAE/week) or from the MVMM supplement (2,250 mcg RAE/week), while the BC+MVMM group received 4,755 mcg RAE/week provitamin A carotenoids. The control group received 81 mcg RAE/week provitamin A carotenoids. Pre- and post- intervention skin-carotenoid scores were compared within and among groups using two-way ANOVA and Tukey’s multiple comparisons test.

Results: Following the 4-week intervention, skin carotenoid scores (pre-intervention: 232.2 ± 49.1, post-intervention: 257.2± 47.2, p < 0.05) were significantly increased by 10.8% in individuals in the BC group and by 21.6% in the BC+MVMM group (pre-intervention: 228.2 ± 58.9, post-intervention: 277.5 ± 72.3, p < 0.001). Skin carotenoid accumulation was not changed in either the control group or the MVMM group.

Conclusions: These findings indicate that increasing carotenoid intake in the diet from baby carrots has a beneficial effect on carotenoid accumulation. Further, these findings suggest that a carotenoid-rich diet in combination with a beta-carotene containing MVMM supplement can have a synergistic effect on skin carotenoid accumulation in young adults.

Funding Sources: UNDR funding, Samford University