Carotenoid extraction and analysis from blood plasma/serum

Accurate and sensitive methods to quantify carotenoids in blood plasma/serum are the basis for assessing carotenoid intake and associating physiological effects. This chapter introduces carotenoid chemistry, an overview of carotenoid food sources, and current knowledge of carotenoid absorption and metabolism, along with factors that affect these processes. We also detail a commonly used method to extract plasma/serum carotenoids using liquid-liquid extraction and analysis by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD). A spreadsheet to aid in this quantitative analysis can be found at www.github.com/CooperstoneLab/carotenoid-analysis.