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4 Equipe de Recherche Technologique Conception, Ingénierie et Développement de l'Aliment et du Médicament, Faculté de Pharmacie, Université Clermont-Ferrand I, Centre de Recherche en Nutrition Humaine Auvergne, Institut Fédératif de Recherche Santé 79, 63001 Clermont-Ferrand, France and 5 Unité de Nutrition Humaine, INRA Clermont-Ferrand/Theix, Centre de Recherche en Nutrition Humaine Auvergne, 63122 Saint-Genès Champanelle, France
Epidemiological studies have suggested that high consumption of tomato products is associated with a lower risk for chronic diseases. To exert their health effect, the phytochemicals of tomatoes have to be bioavailable and therefore it implies their stability through the digestion process. Here, we assessed the digestive stability of the red-pigmented lycopene and other carotenoids brought in nutritional quantity within different food matrixes, using the TNO gastrointestinal tract model (TIM). This multicompartmental dynamic system accurately reproduces the main parameters of gastric and small intestinal digestion in human. In vitro digestions of a standard meal containing red tomato (RT), yellow tomato (devoid of lycopene), or lycopene beadlets were performed. Zeaxanthin and lutein were stable throughout artificial digestions, whereas β-carotene and all-trans lycopene were degraded (
30 and 20% loss at the end of digestion, respectively) in the jejunal and ileal compartments. The recovery of β-carotene in the digesta of the RT meal was significantly lower than that in the yellow one, showing a food matrix effect. In the same way, until 180 min of digestion, the recovery percentages of all-trans lycopene from RT were significantly lower than those issued from the supplement. Isomeric conformation also influenced the stability of carotenoids, 5-cis lycopene being the most stable isomer followed by all-trans and 9-cis. No trans-cis isomerization of lycopene occurred in the TIM. By using a relevant dynamic in vitro system, this study allowed us to gain further insight into the parameters influencing the digestive stability of carotenoids, and therefore their bioavailability, in humans.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: stephanie.blanquet{at}u-clermont1.fr.
Manuscript received 16 December 2008. Initial review completed 16 January 2009. Revision accepted 9 February 2009.
Published online 18 March 2009.