Clinical Validation of a Noninvasive, Raman Spectroscopic Method to Assess Carotenoid Nutritional Status in Humans

Background: Carotenoids are an important group of phytonutrients that are abundant in fruits and vegetables. Epidemiological and clinical intervention studies have implied the presence of protective qualities of these nutrients against the development of a variety of chronic diseases. Previously, human carotenoid status has been assessed in serum and tissue using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) methodology. Recently, a Raman spectroscopy (RS) based photonic method has been developed to accurately and noninvasively measure the carotenoid concentration in human skin. Objectives: (1) To validate skin RS methodology against standard serum carotenoid measurements by HPLC and (2) to establish and compare the reliability of the 2 methods. Design: This study included 372 healthy adults who provided 3 blood samples and 3 RS skin carotenoid measurements within an 8-day period; each day-matched blood sample and RS determination was spaced by >= 48 hours. Results: Consistent positive correlations were observed for each of 3 separate same-day correlation plots of total serum versus RS skin carotenoids. Overall estimate of the line of best fit from analysis of covariance. using all 3 samples (n = 1116), yielded a Pearson correlation of R = 0.81 (r(2) = 0.66; p < 0.001). Based on analysis of variance, RS skin carotenoid methodology exhibited 0.9% less variance over the 3 tests than serum carotenoids by the HPLC method (p < 0.03). Conclusions: RS accurately measures total carotenoids in human skin with less intra-individual variability than measurement of serum carotenoids by HPLC analysis. RS technology is a valid and reliable noninvasive method to rapidly assess carotenoid nutritional status in humans.