Spinach Cultigen Variation for Tissue Carotenoid Concentrations Influences Human Serum Carotenoid Levels and Macular Pigment Optical Density Following a 12-Week Dietary Intervention
Abstract
Increasing intakes of carotenoid-rich plant foods can increase serum carotenoid concentrations and macular pigment optical density (MPOD) in most, but not all, individuals. Research objectives for this study were to (1) characterize tissue lutein (L) and beta-carotene (BC) concentrations in carotenoid-rich spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) cultigens and (2) determine serum carotenoid and MPOD responses in human subjects consuming spinach cultigens differing in tissue L and BC concentrations. Thirteen spinach cultigens were evaluated for carotenoid accumulations over two consecutive growing seasons. "Springer" (8.4 and 6.5 mg/100 g of fresh mass for L and BC, respectively) and "Spinner" (12.1 and 9.2 mg/100 g of fresh mass for L and BC, respectively) spinach cultigens were selected for a dietary intervention study and represented low- and high-L concentrations. The high-L ("Spinner") and low-L ("Springer" ) spinach treatment groups consisted of 10 subject volunteers ingesting five 50-g spinach servings/week during a 12-week intervention. Average serum L concentrations increased by 22% (P = 0.07) from baseline (0.233 micromol/L) to 12 weeks (0.297 micromol/L) for subjects consuming low-L spinach. Subjects consuming high-L spinach showed increases of 33% (P = 0.04) in serum L from baseline (0.202 micromol/L) to 12 weeks (0.300 micromol/L). Average MPOD did not change for the low-L treatment group; however, subjects in the high-L group demonstrated increases (P = 0.02) in MPOD at the 30' eccentricity between baseline (0.343) and 12 weeks (0.374). This study demonstrates that serum carotenoid and MPOD are determined by L concentrations present in the spinach matrix. Results emphasize the role of cultigen selection among vegetable crops in determining phytochemical effects on human health.
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Consumption of spinach is not associated with adverse effects.
“Furthermore, the consumption of spinach is not associated with adverse effects [162,171,172,173,174,175,176,177,178].”
From Ecdysterone and Turkesterone—Compounds with Prominent Potential in Sport and Healthy Nutrition (2024) · cites this paper as [178]
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- Authors
- Kopsell, D. A., Lefsrud, M. G., Kopsell, D. E., Wenzel, A. J., Gerweck, C., & Curran-Celentano, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Wisconsin–Platteville (US)
- University of New Hampshire (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2006-09-27
- Volume
- 54
- Issue
- 21
- Pages
- 7998-8005
- ISSN
- 0021-8561 (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5118
- OpenAlex
- W1993073158
- Cited by
- 54
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 1.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Biochemistry › Antioxidant Activity and Oxidative Stress
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Biochemistry › Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Activities
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Ophthalmology › Retinal Diseases and Treatments
- Keywords
- spinach, lutein, beta-carotene, carotenoids, macular pigment optical density, serum carotenoids, cultivar differences, dietary intervention, carotenoid bioavailability, macular degeneration
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Biological Availability, Carotenoids, Diet, Female, Humans, Macula Lutea, Male, Middle Aged, Retinal Pigments, Species Specificity, Spinacia oleracea, beta Carotene
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