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Although many studies have shown a long‐term negative impact of early life adversity (ELA) in rodents, literature regarding its effects on maturational milestones in rats is scarce. Available evidence suggests that ELA interferes with normal growth and development in rodents and that effects may be sex‐dependent even at an early age. In accordance, we hypothesized that early life scarcity‐adversity would impair physical and reflex development in male and female rats. To test this, we used an early life resource scarcity paradigm based on reducing home cage bedding during postnatal days (PND) 2–9 and assessed physical landmarks by measuring weight gain, incisor presence, fur development, and eye opening. We also evaluated the impact of early life scarcity‐adversity on developmental reflexes by measuring surface righting and grasp reflexes, negative geotaxis, cliff avoidance, bar holding, and auditory startle. Early life scarcity‐adversity resulted in earlier complete lower incisor presence in males (PND 6), impaired surface righting (PND 6) and grasp reflexes (PND 8) in both sexes, and impaired cliff avoidance responses in females (PND 12). These results extend previous research examining the effects of ELA on developing male and female rodents by showing that it negatively impacts a subset of physical landmarks and developmental reflexes in a sex‐dependent manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extent to which processing affects the carotene or vitamin A value of foods is poorly understood. An extrinsic reference method was used to estimate the mass of carotenes and vitamin A derived from various preparations made from the same lot of carrots. Using a repeated-measures design, nine healthy adult subjects consumed test meals of either carrot puree (commercial baby food) or boiled-mashed carrots on separate days; six of the subjects also consumed a test meal of raw-grated carrot. Test meals supplied 34.7 [micro]mol (18.6 mg) carrot [beta]-carotene ([beta]C), plus 6 [micro]mol deuterium-labeled retinyl acetate ([d.sub.4]-RA) in oil solution. Baseline-adjusted carotene and retinyl ester (R-ester) area-under-curve (AUC) responses in the triacylglycerol-rich lipoprotein (TRL) fraction (0-8.5 h) were determined using HPLC and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The masses of absorbed [beta]C, [alpha]-carotene ([alpha]C) and R-ester were estimated by comparing their AUC values with that of deuterium-labeled retinyl ester ([d.sub.4]-R-ester), assuming the latter represented 80% of the [d.sub.4]-RA reference dose. Absorption of [beta]C and [alpha]C was approximately twofold greater from carrot puree than from boiled-mashed carrots, whereas the retinol yield was only marginally (P = 0.11) influenced by treatment. Carotene and R-ester absorption from raw-grated carrot was intermediate to, and did not differ significantly from the cooked preparations. The vitamin A yield (puree, 0.53 mg; boiled-mashed, 0.44 mg) of cooked carrot containing 18.6 mg [beta]C was substantially less than that predicted by current convention and limited primarily by intestinal carotene uptake. Processing can therefore significantly improve bioavailability of carrot carotenes, and in some cases influence the carotene value more than the intrinsic vitamin A value. J. Nutr. 132: 159-167, 2002. KEY WORDS: * provitamin A carotenoids * [beta]-carotene * retinol equivalency * stable isotope * bioavailability * humans

The extent to which processing affects the carotene or vitamin A value of foods is poorly understood. An extrinsic reference method was used to estimate the mass of carotenes and vitamin A derived from various preparations made from the same lot of carrots. Using a repeated-measures design, nine healthy adult subjects consumed test meals of either carrot puree (commercial baby food) or boiled-mashed carrots on separate days; six of the subjects also consumed a test meal of raw-grated carrot. Test meals supplied 34.7 micromol (18.6 mg) carrot beta-carotene (beta C), plus 6 micromol deuterium-labeled retinyl acetate (d(4)-RA) in oil solution. Baseline-adjusted carotene and retinyl ester (R-ester) area-under-curve (AUC) responses in the triacylglycerol-rich lipoprotein (TRL) fraction (0-8.5 h) were determined using HPLC and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The masses of absorbed beta C, alpha-carotene (alpha C) and R-ester were estimated by comparing their AUC values with that of deuterium-labeled retinyl ester (d(4)-R-ester), assuming the latter represented 80% of the d(4)-RA reference dose. Absorption of beta C and alpha C was approximately twofold greater from carrot puree than from boiled-mashed carrots, whereas the retinol yield was only marginally (P = 0.11) influenced by treatment. Carotene and R-ester absorption from raw-grated carrot was intermediate to, and did not differ significantly from the cooked preparations. The vitamin A yield (puree, 0.53 mg; boiled-mashed, 0.44 mg) of cooked carrot containing 18.6 mg beta C was substantially less than that predicted by current convention and limited primarily by intestinal carotene uptake. Processing can therefore significantly improve bioavailability of carrot carotenes, and in some cases influence the carotene value more than the intrinsic vitamin A value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]