Hypercarotenaemia in Wistar rats and ICR mice and correlation to humans

Hypercarotenaemia can occur at any age but it is more commonly seen in infants and young childrendue to the excessive intake of carotenoid bearing food. The objective of this study was to inducehypercarotenaemia and trace the fate of excess carotenoids in Wistar rats and ICR mice. Wistarrats (n=20) and ICR mice (n=28) were used. Rats and mice were divided into two groups (Test andControl). The controls were fed with standard rat/mice pellets while test group was fed with freeze-dried carrot incorporated standard rat/mice feed with boiled carrot. After a month and 2.5 months,blood was drawn for analyses of carotenoids and metabolites and after 2.5 months liver, adiposeand digesta of rats were collected. Faeces were freeze dried and then analyzed for carotenoids ofmetabolites (RP-HPLC). Serum, adipose, liver and bile of test and control mice were also analyzedas above.Wistar rats and ICR mice fed on excess carrot and papaw did not show outward signs ofhypercarotenaemia. Their serum, adipose tissue, liver, digesta (in the case of rats) and bile (in thecase of mice) did not show detectable amounts of carotenoids or their metabolites. However thefaeces of both rat and mice had high levels of α and β carotenes. This indicates that one method ofcontrol of hypercarotenaemia may be at the level of absorption.Key words: hypercarotenaemia, Induction of, Wistar rats and ICR mice, papaw, carrot die

Validity of currently used cutoff values of body mass index as a measure of obesity in Sri Lankan children

Objective The aim of the study was to determine the reliability of body mass index based (BMI) cutoff values in diagnosing obesity among Sri Lankan children. Methods Height, weight, waist circumference (WC) and hip circumference (HC) in 282 children were measured. Total body water was determined by deuterium dilution and fat mass (FM) derived using age and gender specific constants. A percentage FM of 30% for girls and 25% for boys were considered as cutoff levels for obesity. Results Two hundred and eighty two children (M/F: 158/124) were studied and 99 (80%) girls and 72 (45.5%) boys were obese based on % body fat. Eight (6.4%) girls and nine (5.7%) boys were obese based on International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) cutoff values. Percentage FM and WC centile charts were able to diagnose a significant proportion of children as true obese children. The FM and BMI were closely associated in both girls (r=0.82, p < 0.001) and boys (r=0.87, p < 0.001). Percentage FM and BMI had a very low but significant association; girls (r=0.32, p < 0.001) and boys (r=0.68, p < 0.001). FM had a significant association with WC and HC. BMI based cutoff values had a specificity of 100% but a very low sensitivity, varying between 8% and 23.6%. Conclusions BMI is a poor indicator of the percentage fat and the commonly used cutoff values were not sensitive to detect cases of childhood obesity in Sri Lankan children