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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Boston, Massachusetts » Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #210191
Title: Vitamin A Value of Spirulina B-carotene in Chinese Adults Assessed by Stable Isotope Dilution Technique

Author
item WANG, JIE - CHINESE CDCP
item WANG, ZHIXU - QINGDAO UNIVERSITY
item LEI, LI - TUFTS/HNRCA
item QIN, JIAN - TUFTS/HNRCA
item SHIAN, YIN - CHINESE CDCP
item Russell, Robert
item GRUSAK, MICHAEL - USDA/ARS CHILDREN NUTR.
item Tang, Guang-Wen

Submitted to: Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/26/2007
Publication Date: 3/1/2007
Citation: Wang, J., Wang, Z., Lei, L., Qin, J., Shian, Y., Russell, R., Grusak, M.A., Tang, G. 2007. Vitamin A Value of Spirulina B-carotene in Chinese Adults Assessed by Stable Isotope Dilution Technique. Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Conference. 21:546.13.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: To determine the vitamin A value of spirulina B-carotene (B-C) in humans, spirulina was intrinsically labeled by growing the plant in 25 atom% 2H2O nutrient solution. Isotopomers of spirulina trans-B-C showed the highest aboundant enrichment at molecular mass plus 10 mass units (2H10 trans-B-C). Ten healthy Chinese male subjects of 48 +/- 6 y and (retinol level?)were given 2 mg of 13C10 retinyl acetate in oil capsule as a reference dose together with liquid breakfast (480 kcal, 25% from fat). A week later, each subject consumed 5g of spirulina powder in capsule (7 umol trans-B-C equivalents). Low carotenoids and vitamin A diets were either given during the first ten residential days or instructed afterward (free-living days) to the subjects. Forty blood samples were collected over 56 days from each subject. HPLC, GC-ECNCI-MS and LC-MS were used to analyze retinol and B-C concentrations, the enrichment of labeled retinol and B-C in serum. Our results showed that the areas under the curves (AUC) for total labeled serum retinol from spirulina B-C were 0.5 +/- 0.2 nmol d per nmol spirulina B-C. Compared with 13C10 retinyl acetate, the conversion factor of spirulina B-C to retinol was 4. +/- 1 (range 2 – 6) by wt. Spirulina B-C can be converted to retinol efficiently in humans.