 Epidemiological data show that carotenoids and ß-C are health promoting when taken at physiologic levels in foods. However, human absorption and metabolism of carotenoids contained in various food matrices has not been studied well. It is important to investigate the characteristics of absorption and disposal kinetics after eating carotenoid rich foods in order to gain a basic understanding of the biological characteristics of lutein, zeaxanthin, and other carotenoids in food sources. 