American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 67, 276-283, Copyright © 1998 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc

ORIGINAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Kinetics of the response of milk and serum beta-carotene to daily beta- carotene supplementation in healthy, lactating women [published erratum appears in Am J Clin Nutr 1998 Jun;67(6):1286]

LM Canfield, AR Giuliano, EM Neilson, BM Blashil, EJ Graver and HH Yap
Department of Biochemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721, USA. ZMCANFIE@U.ARIZONA.edu

Changes in concentrations of milk and serum carotenoids, retinol, and alpha-tocopherol of five healthy, well-nourished, lactating women were measured over a 28-d supplementation trial with 30 mg beta-carotene and for 4 wk thereafter. Beta-carotene supplementation increased mean beta- carotene concentrations in milk and serum 6.4- and 7.4-fold, respectively. Concentrations of other major carotenoids, retinol, and alpha-tocopherol did not change substantially in either milk or serum. Uptake of beta-carotene into both serum and milk followed apparent first-order kinetics, occurring more rapidly into serum (t(1/2) = 5.5 d) than into milk (t(1/2) = 9 d). After supplementation, milk and serum beta-carotene concentrations decayed slowly, reaching approximately twofold initial concentrations by 4 wk. Kinetics of uptake and decay in milk beta-carotene concentrations paralleled those in serum. The data show that short-term supplementation of healthy, lactating mothers with purified beta-carotene at approximately fivefold the average daily dietary intake substantially increased milk and serum beta-carotene concentrations while not interfering with concentrations of other carotenoids, retinol, or alpha-tocopherol in milk or serum. Thus, an increased intake of beta-carotene by healthy, lactating women increases the supply of milk beta-carotene available to their breast-feeding infants.

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