Home » ICTAN Members » Begoña Olmedilla Alonso

Begoña Olmedilla Alonso

Research Scientist

Research Groups: Vitamins and Carotenoids: nutrition and biological activity (VITA-CAROT)

Department: Department of Metabolism and Nutrition

Short Bio

Begoña Olmedilla Alonso has been a researcher at the Institute of Food Science, Technology and Nutrition (ICTAN), a Research Centre of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) since 2006. She holds a Doctorate in Pharmacy (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 1982) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Research Methodology (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, CSUP-CAM, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 2000). She worked for more than 20 years at the Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro (Spain), where she was Head of the Research Laboratory of the Diabetes and Nutrition Service. Her main areas of research are 1) carotenoids and vitamins (analysis, nutritional status, bioaccessibility and bioavailability in humans), carotenoid biomarkers (of intake, status, visual function, cardiovascular risk, etc.) and 2) functional foods: study design and evaluation of the effect of their intake in humans. He has designed and developed intervention studies with isolated components (e.g. lutein, lycopene, beta-carotene, vitamin E) and with natural and modified composition foods (e.g. yoghurts, milk drinks, beans, oranges, broccoli, meat with nuts or with modified lipid profile). Also observational studies on carotenoid intake at national and European level, salt intake, nutritional status in patients with different pathologies. The publications are available on the Web of Science (Researcher ID: D-1337-2012 and at https://publons.com/a/1129690/), H-index: 45. Member of the Ethics Committee for Clinical Research of the Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro (2004-2006). Member of the Scientific Committee of the Spanish Society of Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Pathology (SEQC) (2008-2010) and member of the Scientific Committee of the Spanish Nutrition Foundation (FEN) since 2006. She has been an AENOR/UNE accredited expert in the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) for Horizontal Methods of Food Analysis (2005-2023).

Olmedilla-Alonso B, Granado-Lorencio F, Castro-Feito J, Herrero-Barbudo C, Blanco-Navarro I, Estévez-Santiago R. Bioavailability of lutein from marigold flowers (free vs ester forms): a randomized cross-over study to assess serum response and visual contrast threshold in adults. Nutrients, 16(10), 1415; 2024.

https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16101415

García-Lithgow C, Durán-Cabral M, Winter-Matos A, García-Estrella E, García-Durán J, Di-Sanzo E, Martínez-de-la-Cruz N, Rodríguez-Abreu J, Olmedilla-Alonso B. Assessment of 24 h sodium and potassium urinary excretion in normotensive and hypertensive Dominican adults. Nutrients, 15(14), 3197, 2023.

https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15143197

Olmedilla-Alonso B, Granado-Lorencio F, De Ancos B, Sánchez-Moreno C, Martín-Belloso O, Blanco I, Herrero-Barbudo C, Elez P, Plaza L, Cano MP. Greater bioavailability of xanthophylls compared to carotenes from orange juice (high-pressure processed, pulsed electric field treated, low-temperature pasteurised, and freshly squeezed) in a crossover study in healthy individuals. Food Chem., 371: 13021; 2022.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.130821

Olmedilla-Alonso B, Benítez-González AM, Estévez-Santiago R, Mapelli-Brahm P, Stinco CM, Meléndez-Martínez AJ. Assessment of food sources and the intake of the colourless carotenoids phytoene and phytofluene in Spain. Nutrients, 13: 4436; 2021.

https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13124436

Böhm V, Lietz G, Olmedilla-Alonso B, Phelan D, Reboul E, Bánati D, Borel P, Corte-Real J, de Lera AR, Desmarchelier C, Dulinska-Litewka J, Landrier JF, Milisav I, Nolan J, Porrini M, Riso P, Roob J, Valanou E, Wawrzniak A, Winklhofer-Roob B, Rühl R, Bohn T. From carotenoid intake to carotenoid blood and tissue concentrations – implications for dietary intake recommendations. Nutrition Reviews, 79(5): 544-573; 2021.

https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuaa008

Olmedilla-Alonso B, Rodríguez-Rodríguez E, Beltrán-de-Miguel B, Estévez-Santiago R. Dietary β-cryptoxanthin and α-carotene have greater apparent bioavailability than β-carotene in subjects from countries with different dietary patterns. Nutrients, 12, 2639, 2020.

https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12092639

Spanish Carotenoid Network (CaRed).
Reference: RED2022-134577-T
Main researcher: Lourdes Gómez Gómez
Duration: 2023- 2025
Financing Entity: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.

915492300 ext. 436345

BOlmedilla@ictan.csic.es

ORCID:
0000-0002-4913-5171

Researcher ID:
D-1337-2012

Scopus Author ID:
57198229077