by Heather Granato
10/29/2007
TUCSON, Ariz.—Higher plasma levels of carotenoids may help reduce oxidative stress in women previously treated for breast cancer (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarker Prev. 2007;16(10):2008–15). Researchers from the University of Arizona and Arizona Cancer Center conducted an ancillary study on 207 postmenopausal breast cancer survivors from the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living Study. Dietary data were analyzed and plasma carotenoids assessed. Correlations between dietary and plasma carotenoids were 0.34 for beta-carotene, 0.46 for alpha-carotene, 0.39 for beta-cryptoxanthin, 0.27 for lycopene, 0.30 for lutein plus zeaxanthin, and 0.30 for total carotenoids. There was a significant inverse association between total plasma carotenoid concentrations and oxidative stress; the protective association was not shown simply from dietary carotenoid intake.
Comment: Brightly colored foods possess the best nutrient profiles with red, orange and yellow vegetables possessing the most abundant levels of carotenoids. Eating a variety of colored fruits and vegetables a day will provide a plethora of health promoting and disease preventing phytonutrients.
Marcus Ettinger DC, BSc
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