The fate of carotene after absorption in the animal organism

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Abstract
Diet affects the absorption of carotene. Only about 10% of it was absorbed by rats fed a fat-free diet. Absorption was better when carotene was given in the form of palm oil and was nearly complete when the diet contained 10% of fat. A substance resembling vitamin A was present in the cecum of rats fed a diet deficient in A but supplemented with carotene. Attempts to convert carotene into vitamin A by incubation with liver tissue or with intestinal bacteria failed. Vitamin A could not be detected in the liver or blood of cats within 40 hrs. after they were fed large doses of carotene. Neither was this conversion obtained up to 173/4 hrs., by perfusing the liver of cats.

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