• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.201-210
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• 2022

Vitamin A (Vit A) is a lipid-soluble vitamin required for diverse normal body functions, including good vision, reproduction, growth, development, and cellular differentiation. The therapeutic effects of Vit A have been demonstrated for the treatments of inflammation, low immunity, and cancer. The present review discusses the scientific evidence for establishing the 2020 Dietary Reference Intakes for Koreans (KDRI) for Vit A, issues caused by unit change of Vit A, and suggestions for the 2025 KDRI revision. Due to the changes in the standard bodyweight observed in several age groups, the 2020 KDRI had minor revisions as compared to the 2015 KDRI. In the 2015 KDRI, the Vit A unit has changed from retinol equivalent (RE) to retinol activity equivalent (RAE) and the activity of carotenoids became half with RAE compared to RE due to this unit change. Since the Vit A intake of Koreans relies heavily on plant-based carotenoids, the dietary intake of Vit A in Koreans as determined by considering the RAE was much lower than values obtained with RE. The analysis for Vit A intake by the Korean National Health and Nutrition Survey only reflects intakes of retinol and beta-carotene. Thus, it would be necessary to include the consumption of other provitamin A, such as alpha-carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin. Moreover, assessing the amounts of Vit A in foods should be customized to Korean diets since there are seasonal variations in the carotenoid concentration of plants. Moreover, other factors such as age- and sex-specific intake data and considerations of baseline micronutrient status, body mass index, and dietary patterns should be considered for developing more precise KDRI. In particular, the Vit A requirement needs to be met by consuming diverse foods, including animal foods.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.1135-1141
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• 2009

Carrots (Daucus carota L.) are consumed as an important dietary source of provitamin A including $\beta$-carotene, $\alpha$-carotene and lutein. An HPLC method was applied to determine the content of the carotenoid composition in carrot cutivars cultivated in Korea. HPLC analyses were carried out with five carrot cultivars (Socheon-5-chon, Hongsim-5-chon, Myeongju-5-chon, Seonhongbom-5-chon and Betarich) sown at April, 2007 and six cultivars (Yeoreum-5-chon, Hanyeoreum-5-chon, Sinheukjeon-5-chon, Bibariheukjeon, Manina and Betarich) sown at August of the same year. In general, the former varieties are not used for the sowing at summer because of their bolting (growth of floral axis). The former and the latter carrots were harvested after 110 and 96 days from seeding, respectively, and the carotenoids were extracted with acetone after freeze-drying. The amount of $\alpha$-carotene ($117.7{\sim}205.3\;{\mu}g/g{\cdot}DW$) was similar to that of $\beta$-carotene ($113.1{\sim}189.6\;{\mu}g/g{\cdot}DW$) for the carrot cultivars sown at spring, while the content ($46.2{\sim}71.1\;{\mu}g/g{\cdot}DW$) was about a half of $\beta$-carotene content ($92.5{\sim}140.2\;{\mu}g/g{\cdot}DW$) for the latter cultivars. In addition, the average content of lutein ($25.2\;{\mu}g/g{\cdot}DW$) in the former cultivars was eight times higher than that in the latter cultivars ($3.1\;{\mu}g/g{\cdot}DW$). Among the spring cultivation types, Socheon-5-chon and Myeongju-5-chon showed higher amount of $\alpha$-carotene and $\beta$-carotene, while the higher amount was determined in Yeoreum-5-chon and Sinheukjeon-5-chon among the autumn cultivation types. Validation of the HPLC-DAD method showed good linearity ($r^2$ > 0.997) of the three compounds analyzed in a wide concentration range ($0.025{\sim}20\;{\mu}g/ml$). The R.S.D. values for intra-day and inter-day precision were less than 19.2% and the mean recovery of each compound was 85.4~104.7%.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.958-965
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• 2015

Lycopene, a red non-provitamin A carotenoid, mainly presenting in tomato and tomato byproducts, has the highest antioxidant activity among carotenoids because of its high number of conjugated double bonds. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of lycopene supplementation in the diet on plasma lipid profile, lipid peroxidation and antioxidant defense system in feedlot lamb. Twenty-eight Bamei male lambs (90 days old) were divided into four groups and fed a basal diet (LP0, 40:60 roughage: concentrate) or the basal diet supplemented with 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg lycopene. After 120 days of feeding, all lambs were slaughtered and sampled. Dietary lycopene supplementation significantly reduced the levels of plasma total cholesterol (p<0.05, linearly), total triglycerides (TG, p<0.05) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C, p<0.05), as well as atherogenic index (p<0.001), whereas no change was observed in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p>0.05). The levels of TG (p<0.001) and LDL-C (p<0.001) were decreased with the feeding time extension, and both showed a linear trend (p<0.01). Malondialdehyde level in plasma and liver decreased linearly with the increase of lycopene inclusion levels (p<0.01). Dietary lycopene intake linearly increased the plasma antioxidant vitamin E level (p<0.001), total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC, p<0.05), and activities of catalase (CAT, p<0.01), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px, p<0.05) and superoxide dismutase (SOD, p<0.05). The plasma T-AOC and activities of GSH-Px and SOD decreased with the extension of the feeding time. In liver, dietary lycopene inclusion showed similar antioxidant effects with respect to activities of CAT (p<0.05, linearly) and SOD (p<0.001, linearly). Therefore, it was concluded that lycopene supplementation improved the antioxidant status of the lamb and optimized the plasma lipid profile, the dosage of 200 mg lycopene/kg feed might be desirable for growing lambs to prevent environment stress and maintain normal physiological metabolism.