Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Sep 14;110(5):911-7.
doi: 10.1017/S000711451200582X. Epub 2013 Jan 28.

Single v. multiple measures of skin carotenoids by resonance Raman spectroscopy as a biomarker of usual carotenoid status

Stephanie Scarmo  1 , Brenda Cartmel, Haiqun Lin, David J Leffell, Igor V Ermakov, Werner Gellermann, Paul S Bernstein, Susan T Mayne
Affiliations

Single v. multiple measures of skin carotenoids by resonance Raman spectroscopy as a biomarker of usual carotenoid status

Stephanie Scarmo et al. Br J Nutr. .

Abstract

Resonance Raman spectroscopy (RRS) is a non-invasive method of assessing carotenoid status in the skin, which has been suggested as an objective indicator of fruit/vegetable intake. The present study assessed agreement and identified predictors of single v. multiple RRS measures of skin carotenoid status. A total of seventy-four participants had their skin carotenoid status measured in the palm of the hand by RRS at six time points over 6 months. Questionnaires were administered to collect information on demographic, lifestyle and dietary data. Mean age of the participants was 36.6 years, 62.2% were female, 83.8% Caucasian and 85.1% were non-smoking at baseline. There was a good agreement between a single measure of skin carotenoids by RRS and multiple measures (weighted κ = 0.80; 95% CI 0.72, 0.88). The same variables were significantly associated with carotenoid status based on single or multiple measures, including a positive association with intake of total carotenoids (P< 0.01) and an inverse association with season of measurement (P≤ 0.05). The exception was recent sun exposure, which emerged as a significant predictor of lower carotenoid status only when using multiple RRS measures (P≤ 0.01). A single RRS measure was reasonably accurate at classifying usual skin carotenoid status. Researchers using RRS may want to take into account other factors that are associated with the biomarker, including season of measurement and recent sun exposure.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Michaud DS, Feskanich D, Rimm EB, et al. Intake of specific carotenoids and risk of lung cancer in 2 prospective US cohorts. Am J Clin Nutr. 2000;72:990–997. - PubMed
    1. Krinsky NI, Johnson EJ. Carotenoid actions and their relation to health and disease. Mol Aspects Med. 2005;26:459–516. - PubMed
    1. Voutilainen S, Nurmi T, Mursu J, et al. Carotenoids and cardiovascular health. Am J Clin Nutr. 2006;83:1265–1271. - PubMed
    1. Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences; Food and Nutrition Board, Panel on Dietary Antioxidants and Related Compounds. Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Selenium, and Carotenoids. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 2000.
    1. Peng YM, Peng YS, Lin Y, et al. Concentrations and plasma-tissue-diet relationships of carotenoids, retinoids, and tocopherols in humans. Nutr Cancer. 1995;23:233–246. - PubMed

Publication types