Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.
Nutrients. 2013 Aug 15;5(8):3257-71. doi: 10.3390/nu5083257.
Vitamin A deficiency continues to be an international public health problem with several important health consequences including blindness and overall increased rates of morbidity and mortality. To address this widespread issue, a series of strategies have been put into place from dietary diversification to supplementation and fortification programs. Retinyl palmitate has been used successfully for decades as a supplement as well as a way to fortify numerous foods, including vegetable oil, rice, monosodium glutamate, cereal flours and sugar. Recently, there has been rising interest in using a natural source of carotenoids, β-carotene from red palm oil (RPO), for fortification. Although RPO interventions have also been shown to effectively prevent Vitamin A deficiency, there are numerous challenges in using beta-carotene from RPO as a fortification technique. β-Carotene can induce significant changes in appearance and taste of the fortified product. Moreover, costs of fortifying with beta-carotene are higher than with retinyl palmitate. Therefore, RPO should only be used as a source of Vitamin A if it is produced and used in its crude form and regularly consumed without frying. Furthermore, refined RPO should be fortified with retinyl palmitate, not β-carotene, to ensure that there is adequate Vitamin A content.
维生素 A 缺乏仍是一个国际公共卫生问题，其带来的健康后果包括失明以及发病率和死亡率整体上升。为了解决这一普遍问题，已采取了一系列策略，包括饮食多样化、补充和强化食品等。棕榈酸视黄酯已成功使用了几十年，既是一种补充剂，也是强化多种食品的方法，包括植物油、大米、谷氨酸钠、谷物面粉和糖。最近，人们对使用天然类胡萝卜素来源——红棕榈油（RPO）中的β-胡萝卜素来强化食品产生了浓厚的兴趣。虽然 RPO 干预也已被证明能有效预防维生素 A 缺乏，但用 RPO 中的β-胡萝卜素作为强化技术存在诸多挑战。β-胡萝卜素会显著改变强化产品的外观和口感。此外，用 β-胡萝卜素强化的成本高于用视黄醇棕榈酸酯。因此，如果要将 RPO 作为维生素 A 的来源，只能使用其粗制形式，并且在不油炸的情况下定期食用。此外，应使用视黄醇棕榈酸酯而非β-胡萝卜素来强化精炼的 RPO，以确保有足够的维生素 A 含量。
