Last update April 29, 2024
Compatible
Suggestions made at e-lactancia are done by APILAM team of health professionals, and are based on updated scientific publications. It is not intended to replace the relationship you have with your doctor but to compound it. The pharmaceutical industry contraindicates breastfeeding, mistakenly and without scientific reasons, in most of the drug data sheets.
Your contribution is essential for this service to continue to exist. We need the generosity of people like you who believe in the benefits of breastfeeding.
Thank you for helping to protect and promote breastfeeding.
Betacarotene, Beta Carotene is also known as
Betacarotene, Beta Carotene in other languages or writings:
Betacarotene, Beta Carotene belongs to these groups or families:
Main tradenames from several countries containing Betacarotene, Beta Carotene in its composition:
Variable | Value | Unit |
---|---|---|
Molecular weight | 537 | daltons |
Tmax | 6 & 32 | hours |
T½ | 144 - 264 | hours |
Write us at elactancia.org@gmail.com
e-lactancia is a resource recommended by Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine - 2015 of United States of America
Would you like to recommend the use of e-lactancia? Write to us at corporate mail of APILAM
Beta-carotene is a pigment found in yellow and orange vegetables (carrot, melon, mango...) and dark green vegetables (spinach, kale). It is a precursor and essential source of vitamin A which is also found in various nutritional supplements (Stroble 2007). It is converted to the active form of vitamin A (retinol) in the liver and intestinal mucosa; when adequate plasma levels of Vitamin A are reached the conversion is saturated, so excessive consumption cannot produce hypervitaminosis A (EFSA 2006). It is used in Vitamin A deficiency and porphyria. Oral administration. It is a food substance recognized as safe. (FDA 2023)
It is found naturally in breast milk (Song 2013) and plasma levels are higher in breastfed infants than in non-breastfed infants (Zaidi 2022). It has antioxidant properties and could decrease inflammatory processes in the breast (Tinia 2022). Freezing does not decrease the concentration of beta-carotene in breast milk, but it does if the milk is administered by a tube feeding system. (Tacken 2009)
Beta-carotene is excreted in breast milk and its supplementation significantly increases (2 to 6-fold) beta-carotene levels in milk (Webb 2009, Canfield 1998 and 1997, Johnson 1997), even when administered in the form of carrot paste. (Haftel 2015)
There are no reports of adverse effects in breastfed infants from maternal supplementation with beta-carotene. (Hale)
Breastfed infants of mothers who consume high amounts of beta-carotene-rich foods may have carotinemia (yellow-orange coloration of the skin) that does not involve jaundice or liver disease. (Thomson 1943)
HIV-affected breastfeeding mothers who receive vitamin A and beta-carotene have a greater shedding of HIV virus in breast milk than women who do not, increasing the rate of HIV transmission. (Fawzi 2002)