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Carotenoids and the Immune System

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Carotenoids

Abstract

Epidemiological studies have consistently shown an inverse correlation between carotene status and the incidence of cancer. The effect is particularly strong for lung cancer. An hypothesis that can be offered to explain the observed inverse correlation is chemoprevention of malignancy by carotenoids. One of the possible mechanisms for this chemoprevention is enhancement of immune responses. The immunoenhancement may be due to an increased vitamin A status from provitamin A carotenoids and/or involve the antioxidant and singlet oxygen quenching capacities of those carotenoids having nine or more conjugated double bonds.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Nutrition, Hoffmann LaRoche Inc., Nutley, N.J., 07110, USA

    Adrianne Bendich

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  1. Adrianne Bendich
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Tufts University Health Sciences Campus, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Norman I. Krinsky

  2. Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Micheline M. Mathews-Roth

  3. Arthur D. Little, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Richard F. Taylor

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© 1989 Plenum Press, New York

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Bendich, A. (1989). Carotenoids and the Immune System. In: Krinsky, N.I., Mathews-Roth, M.M., Taylor, R.F. (eds) Carotenoids. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0849-2_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0849-2_23

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-8113-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-0849-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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