Recent Progress in the Medical Applications of Carotenoids

Carotenoids continue to be important dietary sources of vitamin A, and also continue to be used in the treatment of certain human photosensitive skin diseases. Animal and epidemiologic studies are strongly suggestive that carotenoids may have an anti-cancer role, but the clinical prevention trials designed to determine if this is true have not yet been completed. Another interesting possible role of carotenoids is as modulators of immunologic responses: investigations on this aspect of carotenoid function are also ongoing. In this paper we survey the recent literature on these diverse roles of carotenoids.