Carotenoids Reduce Inflammatory Markers

Carotenoids Reduce Inflammatory Markers

KARLSRUHE, GermanyIncreasingdaily intake of carotenoidrich fruits and vegetables can reduce inflammatorymarkers including levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in healthy adults,according to researchers from the German Federal Research Center for Nutritionand Food; their study was published in the AmericanJournal of Clinical Nutrition (82, 5:1052-8, 2005)(www.ajcn.org). Non-smoking men followed a diet including less than two servingsper day of fruits and vegetables for four weeks; the men were then randomizedinto three groupslow (2 servings/d), medium (5 servings/d) and high (8servings/d) intakes of carotenoid-rich produce.

High intake of fruits and vegetables significantly increasedtotal plasma carotenoid concentrations compared with low intake; vitamin C and Elevels showed no significant differences. In addition, while immunologic markerswere unchanged over the eight-week intervention, CRP levels were significantlyreduced at week eight in the high-intake group compared with the low-intakegroup.