36th International Carrot Conference Abstract

Comparative tocochromanol content of processed carrot products

R. Vernon, C. Luby, and I.L. Goldman

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Tocochromanols are provitamin E compounds with positive health functionality. Little is known about the type and amount of tocochromanols in carrot and carrot products. We conducted a pilot study in 2012 to classify profiles and quantify tocochromanols present in carrot products, and 2) to assess if there is a correlation between carrot vitamin E content and the type of processing. To address this question, we analyzed 9 different commercially available carrot samples for tocopherol and tocotrienols using HPLC. We found a range of tocochromanol contents among these products. Canned non-organic carrots had the highest levels of two tocopherols and one tocotrienol. Organic dehydrated carrots had low levels of tocochromanols compared to other processed carrot products. Alpha-tocopherol levels of products in six groups of plant foods with potentially high levels of Vitamin E (oils, nuts, leaves, fruits, roots, and processed carrot products) were obtained from the USDA Nutrient Database and compared with data from five separate studies that also list Vitamin E values for carrots. The values obtained from the USDA Nutrient Database demonstrate that carrots possess relatively high levels of alpha-tocopherol, but this was not consistent with the data from this study and from the other five studies where tocochromanols had been measured in carrots. These findings suggest the USDA Nutrient Database levels for Vitamin E in carrot may be inaccurate.

Last updated Friday, 02-Aug-2013 11:39:30 CDT