American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 70, No. 4, 575,
October 1999
© 1999 American Society for Clinical Nutrition
Provitamin A food sources and serum retinol
Earl H Harrison and
J Cecil Smith
Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, MD 20705, E-mail: smith{at}307.bhnrc.usda.gov
Dear Sir:
We are writing in regard to the paper by de Pee et al, "Orange Fruit is More Effective than are Dark-green, Leafy Vegetables in Increasing Serum Concentrations of Retinol and ß-Carotene in Schoolchildren in Indonesia" (1). Although the data presented appear sound, we caution readers that the conclusion stated in the title with respect to retinol is not supported by the data. The data presented in Figure 1 of the article indicate that there was no statistically significant difference in the change in serum retinol concentrations between the treatment group who consumed fruit and the treatment group who consumed vegetables. In addition, because baseline (pretreatment) serum retinol concentrations were at the low end of the normal range (
0.70 µmol/L) and because serum retinol is a rather weak indicator of vitamin A status, the modest increases in retinol after the consumption of both vegetables and fruit (0.07 and 0.12 µmol/L, respectively) further suggest that there was no nutritional difference shown between these 2 sources of provitamin A carotenoids on vitamin A status. It was shown in this article that fruit was more effective than were vegetables in increasing serum ß-carotene concentrations. However, the serum ß-carotene concentration is not an accurate indicator of vitamin A status.
REFERENCES
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de Pee S, West CE, Permaesih D, Martuti S, Muhilal, Hautvast JGAJ. Orange fruit is more effective than are dark-green, leafy vegetables in increasing serum concentrations of retinol and ß-carotene in schoolchildren in Indonesia. Am J Clin Nutr 1998;68:1058–67.[Abstract]
