PhD defence: Metabolism and potential health effects of carotenoids following digestion of green-leafy vegetables

An interdisciplinary approach

Jane Nygaard Eriksen

PhD thesis

Green leafy vegetables are nutritionally valuable sources of the carotenoids lutein and β-carotene, which are thought to have potential beneficial health effects on different aspects of vision. Bioavailability of these compounds is low, however, and depends on a complex set of factors, which could potentially influence populations at high risk of malabsorption.

The bioavailability potential is difficult to investigate in vivo, therefore, alternative in vitro approaches are currently being applied for investigating in vitro accessibility as potential estimates of the bioavailability potential.

The present PhD thesis investigates liberation and in vitro accessibility of the carotenoids lutein and β-carotene following domestic kitchen preparation procedures for green leafy vegetables of different cultivars. The aim was furthermore to test the validity of in vitro accessibility as a possible predictor of the bioavailability of carotenoids from green leafy vegetables in healthy subjects and in patients with surgically altered gut absorption.

2016, 147 pages,
ISBN 978 87 93476 29 5.

Time

23 June 2016, 13:00

Venue

Auditorium A1-01.01, Festauditoriet, Bülowsvej 17, Frederiksberg.

Opponents 

Professor Susanne Bügel (chair), Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Researcher Torsten Bohn, Epidemiology and Public Health Research Unit, Luxembourg Institute of Health, Luxembourg.

Professor Vibeke Andersen, Department of Cancer and Inflammation Research, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark.

Supervisors

Professor Lars Ove Dragsted, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Eva Arrigoni, Research Station Agroscope Wädenswil, Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research EAER, Wädenswil, Switzerland.