ArticleNutrition research (New York, N.Y.)2025
A reflection-spectroscopy measured skin carotenoid score strongly correlates with plasma concentrations of all major dietary carotenoid species except for lycopene.
Article in Nutrition research (New York, N.Y.), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed.
- Carotenoids in the Context of the Mediterranean Dietary Pattern: From Food Matrix and Bioavailability to Biomarkers and Human Health.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Community-Based Participatory Approaches to Improve Diet Quality and Food Security in Rural Appalachia: Outcomes from the Laurel HARVEST Study.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Self-Reported Dietary Carotenoid Intake and Skin Carotenoid Score Status in a Geographically Diverse U.S. Sample.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Validation of Noninvasive Cutaneous Carotenoid Measurements as Nutritional Biomarker Across Body Composition Groups.Food science & nutrition · 2026Article
- Reflection Spectroscopy Skin Carotenoids Correlate with Serum Carotenoids in School-Aged Children.The Journal of nutrition · 2026Article
- Skin carotenoids indicate diet, serum carotenoids, and inflammation across obesity and metabolic status in children.Nutrition & metabolism · 2026Article
- Association Between Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Skin Carotenoid Levels Among Japanese Adults in the Workplace.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Daily intake of a lycopene-rich juice is associated with reductions in inflammatory markers but not increases in skin carotenoids in a pilot study among participants with obesity.BMC nutrition · 2025Article
- Associations among skin carotenoids, anthropometric parameters and healthy lifestyle behaviors in young adults: a cross-sectional, population-based study.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Article
- Two Spectroscopy Devices Can Approximate Fruit and Vegetable Intake in a Racially and Ethnically Diverse Sample.Current developments in nutrition · 2025Article
- Associations Between Dietary Carotenoid Intake and Plasma Carotenoid Concentrations and Skin Yellowness, a Validation Study.Journal of human nutrition and dietetics : the official journal of the British Dietetic Association · 2025Article
- Common and rare genetic variation intersects with ancestry to influence human skin and plasma carotenoid concentrations.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Skin carotenoids can be measured non-invasively using spectroscopy methods to provide a biomarker of total dietary carotenoid and carotenoid-rich fruit and vegetable intake. However, the degree to which skin carotenoid biomarkers reflect intakes of specific carotenoids must be determined for specific devices. Previously, findings were mixed regarding the correlation between reflection spectroscopy (RS)-assessed skin carotenoids and individual plasma carotenoid concentrations. The current study expands on prior analyses to examine the cross-sectional associations between adult RS-assessed skin carotenoids and individual carotenoid species intakes and plasma concentrations, controlling for potential covariates. We hypothesized that RS-assessed skin carotenoid scores would strongly correlate with all major plasma carotenoid species other than lycopene. Cross-sectional data from 2 prior studies (n = 213 and n = 162) examining the validity and sensitivity of RS-assessed skin carotenoids as a biomarker of fruit and vegetable intake were used. Skin carotenoids were assessed using the Veggie Meter, which quantifies combined skin carotenoid concentrations. Plasma concentrations of α-carotene, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, and lutein and zeaxanthin were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography. Self-reported carotenoid intake was estimated from validated food frequency questionnaires. Skin carotenoid scores correlated moderately to strongly with individual plasma carotenoid species (Pearson's r = 0.52 to r = 0.78) except for lycopene (r = 0.04 to r = 0.07). Low correlations between skin carotenoid score and lycopene plasma concentrations and intake could be due to differential deposition, preferential oxidation/degradation, and/or device measurement bias. Validating skin carotenoid measurement techniques relative to other concentration biomarkers informs the interpretation of skin carotenoid biomarkers.
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