Dear colleagues,
 
kindly refer to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_A
 the summary is:
 

Equivalencies of retinoids and carotenoids (IU)[edit]

As some carotenoids can be converted into vitamin A, attempts have been made to determine how much of them in the diet is equivalent to a particular amount of retinol, so that comparisons can be made of the benefit of different foods. The situation can be confusing because the accepted equivalences have changed. For many years, a system of equivalencies in which an international unit (IU) was equal to 0.3 μg of retinol, 0.6 μg of β-carotene, or 1.2 μg of other provitamin-A carotenoids was used.[11] Later, a unit called retinol equivalent (RE) was introduced. Prior to 2001, one RE corresponded to 1 μg retinol, 2 μg β-carotene dissolved in oil (it is only partly dissolved in most supplement pills, due to very poor solubility in any medium), 6 μg β-carotene in normal food (because it is not absorbed as well as when in oils), and 12 μg of either α-caroteneγ-carotene, or β-cryptoxanthin in food.
Newer research has shown that the absorption of provitamin-A carotenoids is only half as much as previously thought. As a result, in 2001 the US Institute of Medicinerecommended a new unit, the retinol activity equivalent (RAE). Each μg RAE corresponds to 1 μg retinol, 2 μg of β-carotene in oil, 12 μg of "dietary" beta-carotene, or 24 μg of the three other dietary provitamin-A carotenoids.[12]
Substance and its chemical environment
Micrograms of retinol equivalent
per microgram of the substance
retinol
1
beta-carotene, dissolved in oil
1/2
beta-carotene, common dietary
1/12
alpha-carotene, common dietary
1/24
gamma-carotene, common dietary
1/24
beta-cryptoxanthin, common dietary
1/24
 
 
 
 
Best Regards,

Eng. Alaa Abu Rub

Director of Nutrition Department
MSc. Nutrition and Food Science

The Secretary of Palestinian Breastfeeding National Committee
Quality Assurance Coordinator of Primary Health Care
The Chairman of Palestinian Food and Nutrition Association
Ministry of Health
State of Palestine

Mobile: 00970 598919753
Telfax: 00970 2 2404764
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Skype: aiaburub
 
 
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2014 at 6:52 AM
From: "isi egbele" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Dietary Analysis
Dear Mourad,
 
I just read your response to Yvonne's question about RE and RAE. Please I have a similar challenge and I didn't quite understand the explanation.
In my own case, I determined the betacarotene content of some traditional leafy vegetables (raw and boiled). I want to also report the values as vitamin A. I read in a WHO/FAO document (Human requirments for vitamins and minerals, 2004), that 12 or 14 ug betacarotene : 1ug RAE is used. This is especially so for leafy vegetables. In literature also, some researchers say it is even higher (as much 26).
So are you saying that RE is different from RAE? If i use the 12 or 14 for the conversion, I should report it as RAE not RE? I have seen some literature report RE when they used the value of 12 for conversion.
 
Please advice me.
 
Isi Ejoh
Department of Human Nutrition
University of Ibadan
Nigeria

 
On Monday, October 20, 2014 8:33 PM, "Moursi, Mourad (HarvestPlus)" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
 
Dear Yvonne,
 
RE assumes an average of 6:1 conversion ratio of beta carotene to vitamin A whereas RAE assumes 12:1. So for vitamin A in most plant sources, yes, 2µg RE= 1µg RAE. But that does apply to vitamin A in animal source foods since most of them contain retinol which means you can directly use it as your RAE value. There are a few exceptions of animal source foods that contain both retinol and beta-carotene such as liver and some vegetable oils, so keep an eye out for them if you have them in your dataset.
 
In order to be able to convert RE to RAE, you will need to have your data at the food level with vitamin A intakes from each food for each individual. Separate vitamin A coming from plant food sources and those coming from animal food sources, follow the procedure above and then recalculate total vitamin A per individual.
 
Best regards,
 
Mourad
From: Food Composition Discussion Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of yvonne goh
Sent: Monday, October 20, 2014 5:59 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Dietary Analysis
 
Dear All,
I am currently assessing the nutrient intakes of infants and young children. I have to compare observed  nutrient densities from their diets  to critical cut-offs in literature. The problem i have is the critical cut-off for total vitamin A is in ug RE units which i know is outdated. The unit in my composition table is ug RAE.
I went over my food composition course but didn't see that a direct conversion from ug RE to ug RAE was recommended though i read on the internet (not sure of source) that  2 ug RE =1 ug RAE.
I will be grateful for  some expert advice on this.
 
Thank you.
 
Yvonne Goh.
 
 
 

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