Progressive reduction in circulating levels of carotenoids and other micronutrients in patients with chronic pancreatitis

Abstract

Background: Although micronutrients modulate immunity and inflammation, it remains elusive whether they are implicated in the development and progression of chronic pancreatitis (CP). This study aimed to investigate differences in the circulating levels of selected carotenoids and vitamins between CP and controls and trends in the levels of these micronutrients across controls, early CP, and definite CP.

Methods: Demographic and lifestyle data were extracted from medical records for 53 patients with CP (13 early and 38 definite) and obtained using a questionnaire for 52 controls. Plasma β-carotene, lycopene, cryptoxanthin, zeaxanthin, and α-tocopherol and serum 25(OH)D, folate, IL-6, TNF-α, and MCP-1 were measured with state-of-the-art methods.

Results: The levels of all micronutrients (except folate) were significantly lower in CP than in controls. There was a progressive decrease in the levels of these micronutrients across controls, early CP, and definite CP (all p values for trend: ≤0.0012); e.g., plasma lycopene was 36.6, 21.5, and 14.5 μg/dL for controls, early CP, and definite CP, respectively. After adjustment for confounders, there were strong, inverse associations between the levels of all micronutrients (except folate) and CP (e.g., OR (95% CI) for ≥ median vs. <median: 0.10 (0.04, 0.27) for lycopene, 0.15 (0.05, 0.38) for α-tocopherol, and 0.24 (0.09, 0.64) for 25(OH)D). These associations became weaker after additional adjustment for inflammation markers (IL-6, TNF-α, and MCP-1).

Conclusions: The circulating levels of some carotenoids, α-tocopherol, and vitamin D were reduced in CP patients compared with controls and this reduction was more pronounced in definite CP than in early CP.

Keywords: Carotenoids; Chronic pancreatitis; Inflammation biomarkers; Micronutrients; Risk factors.