The Effect of Carrot Juice, beta-carotene Supplementation on Plasma Antioxidant Status of Korean Smokers

ABSTRACT

Smoking is associated with an increased incidence of numerous cancers and other degenerative diseases. It has been suggested that high consumption of fruits and vegetables may give some protection. Especially carrot is the most important source of dietary beta-carotene. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate whether carrot juice supplementation to smokers have different or superior effect of compared to the effect supplementing purified beta-carotene. The study was conducted in a randomized and placebo-controlled design, after a depletion period of 14 days, 48 smokers were supplemented either carrot juice (n = 18), purified beta-carotene (n = 16) or placebo (n = 14). Each group was supplemented for 8 weeks with approximately 20.49 mg of beta-carotene/day and 1.2 mg of vitamin C/day, as carrot juice (300 mL/day) or purified beta-carotene (1 capsule/day). Plasma vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene level were significantly increased after carrot juice and beta-carotene supplementation. These results suggest that carrot juice containing beta-carotene or beta-carotene itself have similar antioxidative potentials by increasing the antioxidant potential in smokers. Therefore, we suggest moderate dose of vitamin supplementation (amount of two servings of vegetable intake) may help to replenish the decreased oxidative stress levels in smokers.