Dietary lipid level and the availability of β‐carotene of dunaliella‐bardawil in rats

Abstract

High plasma and tissue levels of ß‐carotene have been implicated to be inversely related to the incidence of some types of cancer. Previous studies indicated that the availability of the natural ß‐carotene isomer mixture of Dunaliella bardawil was severalfold higher than that of synthetic all‐trans ß‐carotene. This study illustrated that this higher availability, as expressed by hepatic and plasma ß‐carotene, can be further enhanced by increased dietary lipid level. For 12 days, weanling male and female rats were fed diets containing either 0.1% all‐trans ß‐carotene or spray‐dried Dunaliella bardawil having an equal level of the ß‐carotene isomer mixture. The diets contained 5 or 15% soybean oil. The rise in dietary fat resulted in a marked increase in plasma and liver ß‐carotene, with the Dunaliella isomer mixture being more effective. Higher levels were found in female than in male animals. These findings may be relevant when a high dose of ß‐carotene is considered as a potential anticancer agent.