Dietary total antioxidant capacity reflects dietary and plasma antioxidant status in healthy college students

Abstract

Dietary total antioxidant capacity (TAC), based on the cumulative protective activities of all the antioxidants present in food, has been shown to be inversely associated with risks of chronic diseases. However, it has not been validated for its relevance in healthy young population or for reliability and predictability for antioxidant status in vivo. This study was conducted to validate TAC as a dietary tool in assessing antioxidant intake status and to investigate its predictability for plasma antioxidant status in healthy young population. Sixty healthy, non-smoking college students at the University of Connecticut aged 18–25 y were recruited. Thirty-day diet recalls and twice 12-h fasting blood samples were collected for dietary and plasma antioxidant assessments. After multivariate adjustment, dietary TAC was positively associated with intakes of dietary antioxidants, including α-tocopherol, vitamin C, carotenoids, flavonoids, and proanthocyanidins (p<0.01); it was also positively associated with plasma TAC determined by vitamin-C equivalent antioxidant capacity (VCEAC) (p<0.001). The findings indicate that dietary TAC is associated with dietary and plasma antioxidant status of healthy young population. Grant Funding Source: USDA Hatch Grant