The correlation between the intake of lutein, lycopene and β-carotene from vegetables and fruits, and blood plasma concentrations in a group of women aged 50-65 years in the UK

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Abstract
The correlations between the mean of 4 d weighed intakes of lutein, lycopene and βcarotene and mean plasma concentations during each of the four Seasons were lutein r 0·64, lycopene r 0·47 and βcarotene r 0·45. Intake was not significantly correlated with plasma concentrations during every seasonal time-point. There was a significantly higher intake of lutein during the spring compared with summer and autumn, lycopene intake was significantly higher during the summer and autumn and there were no significant seasonal differences in β-carotene intake. There were, however, significant seasonal differences in plasma carotenoid concentrations, the highest levels occumng between May and October. There were large inter- and intra-individual variations in intake and plasma concentrations of carotenoids. BMI was inversely correlated with plasma βcarotene (r-0·41). The findings suggest that plasma carotenoid concentrations are indicative of dietary intake, but the large intra-individual variation in plasma concentrations indicates that any assessment of longer-term status from data at any one time-point should be treated with caution.

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