Carotenoids, retinol and tocopherols in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and their immediate relatives.

1. Patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus are classified among the groups at risk for low vitamin status, and recent studies suggest that some degree of supplementation with antioxidants may be beneficial in helping to prevent certain long-term complications of diabetes mellitus. Our objective was to compare the status of the fat-soluble vitamins and antioxidant-related compounds in patients with well-defined insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus with that of their first-degree relatives, controlling seasonal and analytical variability as factors influencing the interpretation of the data.

[Serum status of carotenoids in control subjects and its relation to the diet].

Carotenoids are a group of fat soluble pigments which are present in the human being, both in blood, as in tissues, and which are obtained through the diet, mainly from fruits and vegetables. The interest of these compounds is due not only to the provitamin A activity of some of them, but also due to a whole series of biological activities such as: antioxidant or prooxidant, photo-protective, modulator of the immune response, anti-carcinogen, etc. The best analytical method available for the analysis of carotenoids is high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), which is used in our study both for serum as for foods, and it is controlled throughout periodic quality controls.

Variability in the intercomparison of food carotenoid content data: a user's point of view.

The availability of reliable information on food composition is essential both for the evaluation of diet and for nutritional research to relate diet to health or disease. In this article, we compare the total and individual carotenoid contents and the retinol equivalents in fruits and vegetables reported in several food composition tables and HPLC studies. The impact of the variability in carotenoid intake was evaluated on the basis of Spanish National Consumption Statistics and on the values for a standard diet.