Sección Departamental de Química Analítica, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
Ann Nutr Metab. 2017;71(1-2):80-87. doi: 10.1159/000479009. Epub 2017 Jul 14.
To examine the correlation between inflammatory biomarkers and plasma β-carotene levels in children.
A total of 564 Spanish schoolchildren aged 9-12 were observed and studied. Plasma β-carotene levels were assessed by HPLC. A β-carotene level <4.83 µg/dL (0.09 µmol/L) was considered deficient. Plasma tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were measured by immunoenzyme assays. Serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) was tested by immunonephelometry.
Subjects who were β-carotene-deficient (23.1% of the studied children) had higher IL-6 levels than subjects with normal β-carotene concentrations. The log-IL-6 and log-hs-CRP concentrations, but not the log-TNF-α level, were strongly and inversely related to the plasma log-β-carotene level (taking into account log-age, energy intake, log-triglycerides, gender, log-body mass index, log-β-carotene intake, energy from lipids and cholesterol as covariables). When the 3 inflammatory biomarkers were introduced into the regression model along with the corresponding covariables, only the log-IL-6 level was related to the plasma log-β-carotene level (β = -0.505 ± 0.078; p < 0.001).
Inflammatory status, in particular IL-6 levels, appears to be negatively associated with plasma β-carotene levels in schoolchildren.
研究儿童炎症生物标志物与血浆 β-胡萝卜素水平之间的相关性。
观察并研究了 564 名年龄在 9-12 岁的西班牙学童。采用 HPLC 法测定血浆 β-胡萝卜素水平。血浆 β-胡萝卜素水平 <4.83µg/dL（0.09µmol/L）为缺乏。采用免疫酶法测定血浆肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α）和白细胞介素-6（IL-6）水平。采用免疫比浊法测定血清高敏 C 反应蛋白（hs-CRP）。
β-胡萝卜素缺乏组（研究儿童的 23.1%）的 IL-6 水平高于β-胡萝卜素浓度正常组。考虑到 log-年龄、能量摄入、log-甘油三酯、性别、log-体重指数、log-β-胡萝卜素摄入量、脂肪和胆固醇提供的能量作为协变量后，log-IL-6 和 log-hs-CRP 浓度与血浆 log-β-胡萝卜素水平呈强负相关，而 log-TNF-α 水平则无相关性。当将 3 种炎症生物标志物与相应的协变量一起引入回归模型时，只有 log-IL-6 水平与血浆 log-β-胡萝卜素水平相关（β=-0.505±0.078；p<0.001）。
炎症状态，特别是 IL-6 水平，似乎与儿童血浆 β-胡萝卜素水平呈负相关。
