Tanker milk variability according to farm feeding practices: vitamins A and E, carotenoids, color, and terpenoids.

The aim of this work was to study the variability in the composition of bulk milk mixtures of fat-soluble compounds (vitamins A and E, carotenoids, and terpenoids) and assess the links with milk production conditions. Milk from 10 collection trips in the French department of the Haute-Loire (10 to 36 herds per trip) was sampled in the tanker twice during the winter period and 3 times during the grazing season. The collection trips differed in their altitude (440 to 1,150 m) and the forage system (grass or based on corn silage).

Variations in carotenoids, fat-soluble micronutrients, and color in cows' plasma and milk following changes in forage and feeding level.

The main aim of this work was to assess factors affecting the secretion of carotenoids in cows' milk. Our objectives were 1) to determine the kinetics of the decrease in carotenoids in plasma, milk, and adipose tissues following a switch from a high- to a low- carotenoid diet; and 2) to specify whether, during lipomobilization, the restitution of these compounds stored in the adipose tissues is sufficient to modify their secretion in milk. During the preexperimental period, 32 cows in midlactation were fed a grass silage-based diet, and were then assigned to 4 groups; 2 groups were maintained on the grass silage diet and 2 were switched to a late hay diet.

The Medi-RIVAGE study: reduction of cardiovascular disease risk factors after a 3-mo intervention with a Mediterranean-type diet or a low-fat diet.

Background: Epidemiologic studies link Mediterranean-type diets to a low incidence of cardiovascular disease; however, few dietary intervention studies have been undertaken, especially in primary prevention.

Objectives: In the Mediterranean Diet, Cardiovascular Risks and Gene Polymorphisms (Medi-RIVAGE) study, the effects of a Mediterranean-type diet (Med group) or a low-fat diet (low-fat group) on risk factors were evaluated in 212 volunteers (men and women) with moderate risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Design: After the 3-mo dietary intervention, changes in many risk factors were evaluated.

Lycopene but not lutein nor zeaxanthin decreases in serum and lipoproteins in age-related macular degeneration patients.

Background: Epidemiological studies have established that a low serum concentration of carotenoids was associated with risk of Age-Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD). The aim of this study was to determine carotenoid levels in serum and in different lipoprotein fractions in patients diagnosed for ARMD and in matched control group.

Method: Thirty-four ARMD patients and 21 control subjects from Brest area (France) have been included to this study.

In vivo and in vitro evidences that carotenoids could modulate the neutrophil respiratory burst during dietary manipulation.

Background: The primary role of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) is to destroy pathogenic microorganisms after phagocytosis by producing reactive oxygen species (ROS) and toxic molecules. However, PMNs produce sufficient amounts of ROS during an oxidative burst to be autotoxic and detrimental to their own functions and to possibly cause DNA damage, protein and lipid oxidation and cell membrane destructuration.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate in vivo the role of the antioxidant capacities of carotenoids in modulating ROS content in PMNs during oxidative burst.