Converting beta carotene...

There was this study that was done on Yemens in Florida I Believe a few years back even posted here a couple of times that showed that they could not convert carotene into vitamin a. This spread even to the geckos forum advising to use oil form vitamin a instead of carrots in gutloading. I have not been able to find this study lately due. maybe someelse knows which study I am talking about.
 
That's what I'm wondering. Back to my searching I guess.
Sorry to dig this thread back up but thought i would throw a fresh theory that they may obtain some vit A from the large diversity of butterflies, moths & caterpillars in the trees & shrubs, extract
Sourced from link you shared :

Retinol and β-carotene were detected in some butterfly caterpillars, such as the species Imbrasia oyemensis, Nudaurelia oyemensis, Ichthyodes truncata and Imbrasia epimethea containing 32–48 μg of retinol and 6.8–8.2 μg of β-carotene per 100 g of dry matter. The level of retinol per 100 g of dry matter was less than 20 μg and the level of β-carotene was less than 100 μg in the case of yellow mealworms T. molitor, superworms Z. morio and house crickets A. domesticus [22], [36], [38]. According to Finke [36] several species of lepidopteran larvae and the soldiers of one species of termites (Nasutitermes corniger) contain significant quantities of preformed vitamin A (retinol), but in general, insects do not appear to contain much preformed vitamin A.
 
Sorry to dig this thread back up but thought i would throw a fresh theory that they may obtain some vit A from the large diversity of butterflies, moths & caterpillars in the trees & shrubs, extract
Sourced from link you shared :

Retinol and β-carotene were detected in some butterfly caterpillars, such as the species Imbrasia oyemensis, Nudaurelia oyemensis, Ichthyodes truncata and Imbrasia epimethea containing 32–48 μg of retinol and 6.8–8.2 μg of β-carotene per 100 g of dry matter. The level of retinol per 100 g of dry matter was less than 20 μg and the level of β-carotene was less than 100 μg in the case of yellow mealworms T. molitor, superworms Z. morio and house crickets A. domesticus [22], [36], [38]. According to Finke [36] several species of lepidopteran larvae and the soldiers of one species of termites (Nasutitermes corniger) contain significant quantities of preformed vitamin A (retinol), but in general, insects do not appear to contain much preformed vitamin A.

So I guess we'd need to examine wild chameleons to see if they have sufficient/different amounts of prEformed vitamin to see if that was the difference?
 
Something else i recently seen an article on an enzyme found in swallowtail butterfly that can convert retinol into beta- carotenoids thought it might be further food for thought.
Crossed my mind as Its almost like chameleon exist to eat winged things it really excites them which im sure you can agree. Is there enough retinol explain the prEvit & the beta_k in F.pardalis eggs im wondering 🤔
 
Something else i recently seen an article on an enzyme found in swallowtail butterfly that can convert retinol into beta- carotenoids thought it might be further food for thought.
Crossed my mind as Its almost like chameleon exist to eat winged things it really excites them which im sure you can agree. Is there enough retinol explain the prEvit & the beta_k in F.pardalis eggs im wondering 🤔
Don't you mean convert carotenoids into retinol?
 
None whatsoever 😆 just from what i know of enzymes very little id admit. one thing is though they can be reusable as well as denatured.
Really interested in the long standing debates over vitamin A and Beta Carotene problem whilst I'm trying to understand why & what we are using as supplements.
 
So I guess we'd need to examine wild chameleons to see if they have sufficient/different amounts of prEformed vitamin to see if that was the difference?
Sorry I have gotten confused and not able to grasp this pre and pro. Are we talking beta carrotein or vitamin a when speaking of pre and pro?
 
PrEformed is retinol.... prOformed is carotenoids.
This is why I don't understand why a butterfly would want to convert the retinol back to the carotenoid.
 
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