This past weekend, researchers and formulators came together at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston, MA, for an in-depth discussion regarding the recent research and formulation advancements of carotenoids.
 
The “New Developments in Carotenoid Research” conference was developed by an International Organizing Committee lead by co-chairs Simin Nikbin Meydani, PhD, DVM, director of the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) and the Nutritional Immunology Laboratory at the USDA HNRCA, and Robert Russell, MD, president of the American Society for Nutrition and Professor Emeritus at Tufts University.
 
Twenty international experts spoke about function and mechanisms of action of carotenoids in the human body. Among the many topics discussed were the fundamentals of beta-carotene metabolism and appropriate daily requirements to meet vitamin A requirements and reduce oxidative damage, genetic polymorphisms that may impact carotenoid requirements, analytical techniques to measure vitamin A activity from beta-carotene, biological functions of lycopene and its role in regulating transcription systems and human health, and the role of lutein and zeaxanthin in visual and cognitive performance.
 
One key takeaway message revolved around the importance of carotenoids as they relate to the health of women, children and the elderly in developing countries like South Asia and Africa.
 
In his keynote address, Alfred Sommer, MD, a professor at Johns Hopkins University and dean emeritus of the Bloomberg School of Public Health, spoke about the importance of vitamin A as an essential nutrient, and called for increased randomized clinical trials. “Adequate vitamin A is required for normal organogenesis, immune competence, tissue differentiation and the visual cycle,” he said. “Deficiency, widespread throughout the developing world, is responsible for a million or more instances of unnecessary death and blindness every year.”
 
Keith West Jr, PhD, RD, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, echoed his colleague’s sentiments. “Prevention of vitamin A deficiency should be achievable by assuring dietary adequacy of preformed and provitamin A carotenoid food sources, yet the bioefficacy of beta-cartotene in vegetables and fruits is less than previously thought, a phenomenon that appears mediated by many food, preparation and host factors,” he said. “New global initiatives focusing on improving food security could gradually prevent vitamin A deficiency through dietary diversity, but this will require a parallel research agenda that documents the evidence to inform and advance policy.”
 
Carotenoid-rich plant food sources continually pointed to by several conference speakers were spinach, carrots, spirulina, hybridized yellow corn and bioengineered Golden Rice.
 
Marjorie Haskell, PhD, an associate research nutritionist at the University of California, Davis, acknowledged the importance of biofortified foods but countered that traditional plant sources could do more to benefit those at risk. “Vitamin A equivalency rations for beta-carotene from biofortified Golden rice or biofortifed maize (corn) are 3.8:1 and 6.5:1, respectively, and are lower than ratios for cooked vegetables that have a more complex food matrix (10:1-28:1),” she said. “Despite the high variability in estimates of vitamin A equivalency of beta-carotene, provision of vegetable and fruit sources of provitamin A carotenoids has significantly increased vitamin A status, based on serum retinol concentrations or total body vitamin A stores, in populations at risk of deficiency in community settings in developing countries, Thus there is evidence that plant sources of provitamin A can be efficacious for increasing vitamin A status.”
 
Beyond the benefit to developing countries, a handful of presenters spoke about the recently documented health benefits of carotenoid consumption to the population at large.
 
Susan Mayne, PhD, a professor at the Yale School of Public Health, talked about the relationship of carotene intake and lower incidences of cancer.
 
Francine Grodstein, ScD, an associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, spotlighted studies referring to the benefits of beta-carotene and related carotenoids on cognitive performance and decline.
 
In compliment to the aforementioned presentations, there were several additional and highly technical seminars covering the newest science linking the consumption of antioxidants with human health, including nutrient-gene interactions, as well as 19 scientific papers presented via a poster session, all of which illuminated the latest science on carotenoids such as beta-carotene, lutein, zeaxanthin and lycopene.
 
Dr. Manfred Eggersdorfer, senior vice president of nutrition science and advocacy, DSM Nutritional Products Inc., a primary sponsor of the conference, summarized the experience as “a momentous opportunity.”
 
“There has been so much new science generated on carotenoid absorption and metabolism, including nutrient-gene interactions, in the last few years,” he said, noting that DSM was “pleased to join such an impressive group of sponsors to bring focus to the health benefits of carotenoids.”