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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutritional Epidemiology
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1415537
This article is part of the Research Topic Construction of Nutrient Delivery System for Carotenoids and Their Antioxidant and Anti-inflammatory Activities View all articles

Associations of multiple carotenoid co-exposure with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in US adults: A prospective cohort study

Provisionally accepted
Qinglin He Qinglin He *Chunling Yuan Chunling Yuan *Zhihui Liu Zhihui Liu *Xiaoxia Wei Xiaoxia Wei *
  • Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, Nanning, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Epidemiological evidence regarding circulating carotenoids and mortality risk remains conflicting, and most studies focus on individual carotenoid impacts. This study aimed to elucidate the effects of co-exposure to multiple serum carotenoids on mortality risk. Methods: We enrolled 22,472 participants aged ≥20 from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III (1988–1994) and NHANES 2003–2006. Baseline serum levels of 5 major carotenoids (α-carotene, β-carotene, lycopene, β-cryptoxanthin, and lutein/zeaxanthin) were assessed, and individuals were followed up until December 31, 2019. Carotenoid co-exposure patterns were identified using the K-means method. Cox proportional hazard models were used to investigate the associations between carotenoid exposure and mortality risk. Results: During a median follow-up of 16.7 years, 7,901 deaths occurred. K-means clustered participants into low-level, low-lycopene, high-lycopene, and high-level exposure groups. In the fully adjusted model, low-lycopene, high-lycopene, and high-level exposure groups had significantly lower all-cause mortality risks compared to the low-level group, with hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of 0.79 (0.72, 0.87), 0.75 (0.67, 0.84), and 0.67 (0.61, 0.74), respectively. For cardiovascular disease mortality, the high-lycopene exposure group had a 27% reduced risk (HR: 0.73, 95% CI: 0.61-0.86), and the high-level exposure group had a 21% reduced risk (HR: 0.79, 95% CI: 0.67-0.93). For cancer mortality, the high-lycopene and high-level exposure groups had 30% and 35% lower risks, with HRs (95% CIs) of 0.70 (0.57, 0.86) and 0.65 (0.54, 0.79), respectively. Conclusion: This study revealed that co-exposure to multiple serum carotenoids was associated with reduced mortality risk, highlighting the potential health benefits of increased carotenoid intake. Further investigation is warranted to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of interactions among different carotenoids.

    Keywords: NHANES, carotenoid, Co-exposure, K-means, Mortality

    Received: 10 Apr 2024; Accepted: 18 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 He, Yuan, Liu and Wei. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Qinglin He, Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, Nanning, China
    Chunling Yuan, Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, Nanning, China
    Zhihui Liu, Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, Nanning, China
    Xiaoxia Wei, Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, Nanning, China

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