Bocaiuva (Acrocomia aculeata (Jacq.) Lodd) Improved Vitamin A Status in Rats MARIA ISABEL L. RAMOS, † EGLE M. A. SIQUEIRA,* ,‡ CLARISSA C. ISOMURA, † ANTO Ä NIO M. J. BARBOSA, § AND SANDRA F. ARRUDA | Departamento de Tecnologia de Alimentos e Sau ´de Pu ´blica, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS), Campo Grande MS, Brazil; Departamento de Biologia Celular, Instituto de Cie ˆncias Biolo ´gicas, Universidade de Brası ´lia, Asa Norte, D. F., Brazil; Laborato ´rio Central de Sau ´de Pu ´blica, Secretaria de Estado de Sau ´de, MS, Brazil; and Departamento de Nutric ¸ a ˜o, Faculdade de Cie ˆncias da Sau ´de, Brası ´lia, Asa Norte, D. F., Brazil Carotenoid bioavailability is influenced by various factors including the food matrix. The release of those molecules from the food matrix is the initial and most important step in the absorption process. The relative bioavailability of bocaiuva pulp -carotene in relation to pure -carotene was assayed by a hepatic retinol store, in vitamin A deficient Wistar rats. After the depletion period, the vitamin A deficient rats were separated into two groups and fed an AIN-93G modified diet, which contained 14 400 µg of pure -carotene (-carotene diet) or 13 475 µg of -carotene from 275 g of bocaiuva pulp (bocaiuva diet) per 1 kg of the diet as a vitamin A source. Both experimental diets resulted in similar body weight gains. The bioavailability, estimated as Retinol Accumulation Factor, was 7.3 and 3.5 for the -carotene and the Bocaiuva group, respectively. These results show that in spite of the matrix of the bocaiuva pulp, the -carotene bioavailability from this fruit was higher than the pure -carotene. KEYWORDS: Bioavailability; -carotene; bocaiuva; Acrocomia aculeata (Jacq.) Lodd; vitamin A INTRODUCTION In spite of its critical role in cell differentiation and prolifera- tion, maintenance of epithelial cell integrity, embryonic devel- opment, and in the mechanism of vision in the dark (1-3), vitamin A deficiency is still a public health problem in the world. It is becoming worse in developing countries, where it coexists with low vitamin intake and other micronutrient deficiencies (1). In Brazil, the marginal vitamin A deficiency reaches practically all the regions of the country, even the richest ones (4). Vitamin A deficiency affects growth, he differentiation of epithelial tissues, and immune competence. It is the single most frequent cause of blindness among preschool children in developing countries. The younger the child, the more severe the disease is and the higher the risk that corneal destruction will be followed by death (5-7). Vitamin A deficiency occurs when body stores are exhausted and the supply fails to meet the body’s requirements. The major dietary source of vitamin A in humans consuming predominantly vegetarian diets are the provitamin A carotenoids, which are converted to retinol by the action of 15-15′-carotenoid dioxy- genase mainly in the enterocytes from intestine mucosa. This process results in the formation of retinal that could be reduced to retinoid forms, which are incorporated into chylomicrons and secreted into lymph for delivery to the blood stream, where they are taken up by the liver to be stored (8, 9). However, the rate of conversion of these molecules into vitamin A depends on their bioavailability (i.e., their release from the food structure, their processing into a potentially absorbable form, and their passage from gut lumen into the duodenum enterocytes (10)). Several factors including the carotenoids in foods, the matrix in which carotenoids are incorporated, and the diet composition influence carotenoid bioavailability (8, 10, 11). Numerous native Brazilian fruits have been identified as rich sources of caro- tenoids (12). Bocaiuva fruit, Acrocomia aculeata (Jacq.) Lodd, is a palm from the cerrado (Brazilian savannas) whose yellow pulp is consumed fresh or processed as ice cream, juice, liqueur, and jelly, with great popular acceptance. A previous report has found that about 89% of the total carotenoid content in the bocaiuva pulp is -carotene, and the bocaiuva pulp is rich in oils with a high content of unsaturated fatty acid such as oleic acid (13, 14), which may influence the carotenoid bioavailability. Rats have not been considered to be the most appropriate animal model to investigate carotenoid bioavailability; however, they have been used to evaluate the efficiency of -carotene conversion to vitamin A by monitoring changes in liver vitamin A stores (2, 15, 16). Rats are high efficiency converters of * Corresponding author. E-mail: eglemasi@unb.br. Tel.: 55-61- 33072042. Fax: 55-61-32734608. † Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul. ‡ Instituto de Cie ˆncias Biolo ´gicas. Universidade de Brası ´lia. § Laborato ´rio Central de Sau ´de Pu ´blica. | Faculdade de Cie ˆncias da Sau ´de. 3186 J. Agric. Food Chem. 2007, 55, 3186-3190 10.1021/jf063305r CCC: $37.00 © 2007 American Chemical Society Published on Web 03/21/2007