Vitamins lycopene

Fertile sources of carotenoids include carrots and leafy green vegetables such as spinach. Tomatoes contain significant amounts of the red carotenoid, lycopene. Although lycopene has no vitamin A activity, it is a particularly efficient antioxidant (see Antioxidants). Oxidation of carotenoids to biologically inactive xanthophyUs represents an important degradation pathway for these compounds (56). 

In addition, Montenegro et al., (2007) determined that the photosensitized RF-mediated degradation of vitamins A, D3, and RF itself in skimmed milk was strongly reduced by the addition of small amounts of lycopene-gum arabic-sucrose microcapsules, prepared by spray-drying. Under these conditions, the bulk properties of the skimmed milk were unmodified. The main photoprotection mechanism of the milk vitamins was the efficient quenching of the 3Rf by the protein moiety of GA. Small contributions (<5%) to the total photoprotection percentage was due to both inner filter effect and 1O2 quenching by the microencapsulated lycopene. 

Photoprotection of Vitamins in Skim Milk by Aqueous Soluble Lycopene - Gum Arabic Microencapsulated. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Vol. 55, No. 2, (January 2007), pp. 323-329, ISSN 0021-8561. 

The lag-phase measurement at 234 nm of the development of conjugated dienes on copper-stimulated LDL oxidation is used to define the oxidation resistance of different LDL samples (Esterbauer et al., 1992). During the lag phase, the antioxidants in LDL (vitamin E, carotenoids, ubiquinol-10) are consumed in a distinct sequence with a-tocopherol as the first followed by 7-tocopherol, thereafter the carotenoids cryptoxanthin, lycopene and finally /3-carotene. a-Tocopherol is the most prominent antioxidant of LDL (6.4 1.8 mol/mol LDL), whereas the concentration of the others 7-tocopherol, /3-carotene, lycopene, cryptoxanthin, zea-xanthin, lutein and phytofluene is only 1/10 to 1/300 of a-tocopherol. Since the tocopherols reside in the outer layer of the LDL molecule, protecting the monolayer of phospholipids and the carotenoids are in the inner core protecting the cholesterylesters, and the progression of oxidation is likely to occur from the aqueous interface inwards, it seems reasonable to assign to a-tocopherol the rank of the front-line antioxidant. In vivo, the LDL will also interact with the plasma water-soluble antioxidants in the circulation, not in the artery wall, as mentioned above. 

Diet Increased risk associated with high-meat and high-fat diets. Decreased intake of 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D, vitamin E, lycopene, and /Tcarotene increases risk. 

Other dietary factors implicated in prostate cancer include retinol, carotenoids, lycopene, and vitamin D consumption.5,6 Retinol, or vitamin A, intake, especially in men older than age 70, is correlated with an increased risk of prostate cancer, whereas intake of its precursor, [3-carotene, has a protective or neutral effect. Lycopene, obtained primarily from tomatoes, decreases the risk of prostate cancer in small cohort studies. The antioxidant vitamin E also may decrease the risk of prostate cancer. Men who developed prostate cancer in one cohort study had lower levels of l,25(OH)2-vitamin D than matched controls, although a prospective study did not support this.2 Clearly, dietary risk factors require further evaluation, but because fat and vitamins are modifiable risk factors, dietary intervention may be promising in prostate cancer prevention. 

Other agents, including selenium, vitamin E, lycopene, green tea, nonsteriodal anti-inflammatory agents, isoflavones, and statins, are under investigsation for prostate cancer and show promise. Selenium is a naturally occurring trace element that is an essential nutrient in the human diet.8 However, none of these agents is currently recommended for routine use outside a clinical trial. 

Siler, U., L. Barella, V. Spitzer et al. 2004. Lycopene and vitamin E interfere with autocrine/paracrine loops in the Dunning prostate cancer model. Faseb J 18(9) 1019-1021. 

Offord, EA, JC Gautier, O Avanti et al. 2002. Photoprotective potential of lycopene, beta-carotene, vitamin E, vitamin C and camosic acid in UVA-irradiated human skin fibroblasts. Free Radio Biol Med 32(12) 1293-1303. 

Riso, P, F Visioli, D Erba, G Testolin, and M Porrini. 2004. Lycopene and vitamin C concentrations increase in plasma and lymphocytes after tomato intake. Effects on cellular antioxidant protection. Eur J Clin Nutr 58 1350-1358. 

Fresh tomato fruit contains about 0.72 to 20 mg of lycopene per 100 g of fresh weight, which accounts for about 30% of the total carotenoids in plasma (Stahl and Sies 1996). In contrast to other pigments such as (3-carotene, lutein, violaxanthin, auroxanthin, neoxanthin, and chlorophylls a and b, which accumulate in inner pulp and in the outer region of the pericarp, lycopene appears only at the end of the maturation period and almost exclusively in the external part of the fruit (Laval-Martin and others 1975). Other tomato components that can contribute to health include flavonoids, folic acid, and vitamin E (Dorais and others 2001a,b). 

In the enterocyte, provitamin A carotenoids are immediately converted to vitamin A esters. Carotenoids, vitamin A esters, and other lipophilic compounds are packaged into chylomicrons, which are secreted into lymph and then into the bloodstream. Chylomicrons are attacked by endothelial lipoprotein lipases in the bloodstream, leading to chylomicron remnants, which are taken up by the liver (van den Berg and others 2000). Carotenoids are exported from liver to various tissues by lipoproteins. Carotenes (such as (3-carotene and lycopene) are transported by low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL), whereas xanthophylls (such as lutein, zeax-anthin, and (3-cryptoxanthin) are transported by high-density lipoproteins (HDL) and LDL (Furr and Clark 1997). 

Liu D, Shi J, Ibarra AC, Kakuda Y and Xue SJ. 2008. The scavenging capacity and synergistic effects of lycopene, vitamin E, vitamin C, and (1-carotene mixtures on the DPPH free radical. Food Sci Technol 41 1344-1349. 

The transformations of compounds which are precursors for vitamin A and carotenoids have a special position among the rearrangements of the conjugated polyenes. Numerous isomerizations such as cw-fraws-isomerization, the dehydration of polyunsaturated acetylenic carbinols etc. were utilized to prepare the various carotenoides (e.g. /1-carotene, lycopene, cryptoxanthin, zeaxanthin) (for reviews, see References 146 and 147). However, one of these rearrangements turned out to be a considerable hindrance for the synthesis of target products. 

Hippophae rhamnoides L. Sha Ji (Sea buckthorn) (seed, fruit, leaf) Cryptoxanthin, harman, harmol, hemin, isorhamnetin, lycopene, serotonin, isorhamnetin-3-mono-beta-D-glucoside, polyphenols, fatty acids flavonoid, essential oils, tannins, quercitin, vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotenoid.50-450 Improve resistance to infection, skin irritation and eruption, treat heart disease, oil for cosmetic use. 

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