Bioaccessibility of Carotenoids and Vitamin E from Pasta: Evaluation of an in Vitro Digestion Model

Abstract

The present investigation aimed to expand the knowledge of bioaccessibility of carotenoids, tocopherols, and tocotrienols from cereal products such as pasta. Because most of the published approaches assessing the bioaccessibility of lipophilic micronutrients dealt with fruits and vegetables, a prevalent in vitro digestion procedure was modified. Additionally, several digestion parameters were evaluated with regard to their impact on the bioaccessibility of carotenoids and vitamin E from pasta. Overall, the estimated values were highly dependent on the amount of bile extract present in the digestive medium and to a lesser extent on the simulated gastric pH and the incubation time with digestive enzymes. The bioaccessibility of carotenoids and vitamin E from durum wheat pasta was quite high (71 ± 5 and 70 ± 4%, respectively), whereas these micronutrients were considerably less accessible from pasta containing 10% eggs (57 ± 1 and 49 ± 5%, respectively).

Carotenoids, Tocols, and Retinols during the Pasta-Making Process

“…Available results indicate that there is still conflicting information regarding the effect of food processing. Relative to pasta, only a recent paper by Werner and Böhm (2011) investigated the bioaccessibility of these lipophilic micronutrients from pure durum wheat pasta and pasta containing 10% eggs. The bioaccessibility of carotenoids and tocols from durum wheat pasta was quite high (71% and 70%, respectively), whereas these micronutrients were considerably less accessible from pasta containing 10% egg (57% and 49%, respectively).…”

“…Bioavailability can be defined as the fraction of an ingested nutrient that reaches the systemic circulation (Werner and Böhm, 2011). Bioaccessibility describes the fraction of a nutrient that is available for absorption into enterocytes.…”

Bioactive Plant Isoprenoids

“…Another group of carotene-related compounds -the fat soluble molecules, tocopherols (Vitamin E) -also exhibit potent antioxidant activities [45]. There are different forms of tocopherols, with the most biologically active being α-tocopherol.…”

Peer seeds: Rich source of antioxidants

“…As lipid-soluble antioxidants, they have numerous benefits for human health. According to epidemiological studies there is the link between consumption of fruits and vegetables rich in carotenoids and reduced risk of various forms of cancer, cardiovascular diseases and age-related macular degeneration (Werner and Böhm, 2011). While β-carotene is precursor of vitamin A, lutein and zeaxanthine have been implicated in preventing macular degeneration Howitt and Pogson (2006).…”

“…Vitamin E, as the most significant chain-breaking antioxidant in lipophilic environment (Werner and Böhm, 2011), includes two groups of compounds, tocopherols and tocotrienols, together known as tocols. Tocols are important in regulation of metabolic processes such as inflammation and cancer in humans.…”