Currently, there are only very limited lutein and zeaxanthin consumption data available.
A diet rich in fruits and vegetables contains about 1–2 mg of lutein, while the individual recording can vary greatly, depending on the consumption habits (22).
In US adults, combined intakes of lutein and zeaxanthin ranged from 0.8 to 1.1 mg/day, with differences observed among age and ethnic groups (49). This leads to a mean lutein-to-zeaxanthin ratio for dietary intake of 5:1 (24).
In various European countries, zeaxanthin intakes have been reported to be 0.5 – 4 mg mg/day (22).
In Brazil, the average intake varies between 0.6 and 1.1 mg/day (50) and 0.35 and 2.9 mg/day in Japan and China, respectively (51, 52).
Authored by Dr Peter Engel in 2010, reviewed and revised by Jonas Wittwer on 13.06.2017
