Synergistic Effects of Food Ingredients and Vegetable Oils on Thermal Isomerization of Lycopene

Abstract

such as tomato juice and puree 8, 9. However, lycopene Zisomers, such as the 5Z-and 9Z-isomers, are primarily found in animals and humans 8, 10, 11. A reason for the lycopene Z-isomer abundance in the body is thought to be the Z-isomerization during digestion and absorption 12 14. Re et al. reported that all-E-lycopene isomerized into the Zisomers in the human gastric juice and the 5Z-and 9Z-isomer ratios markedly increased 13. Recently, Huang and Hui found that the Z-isomerization site of all-E-lycopene was located in the small intestinal wall 14. Another possible reason for the high lycopene Z-isomer content in the body is that the Z-isomers are more bioavailable than the all-Eisomer. Several in vitro and in vivo comparative studies focusing on all-E-and Z-lycopene bioavailability have described greater lycopene Z-isomer bioavailability, and furthermore, human studies clearly showed that the ingestion of Z-isomer-rich diets resulted in higher Z-isomer ratio in the body compared to the ingestion of all-E-isomer-rich Abstract: Recent investigations have demonstrated that some food ingredients and vegetable oils, such as onion, garlic, and sesame oil, enhanced thermal Z-isomerization of (all-E)-lycopene in tomatoes. However, the synergistic effects of these ingredients and oils have not yet been investigated. This study aims at clarifying how the combined use of lycopene Z-isomerization-promoting food ingredients and vegetable oils impacts thermal Z-isomerization of (all-E)-lycopene in tomato puree. Apart from a few exceptions, when olive oil was used as a reaction medium, the combined use of garlic, cabbage, broccoli, shiitake mushroom, and makonbu improved the total Z-isomer ratio of lycopene after heating compared to the separate use of the tested ingredients. However, when onion was used together with the other ingredients, the Z-isomer ratio significantly decreased compared to its individual use. Moreover, when garlic, cabbage, broccoli, shiitake mushroom, and makonbu were used with sesame and mustard oils, that exhibit higher Z-isomerizationpromoting effect than that of olive oil, the lycopene Z-isomerization reaction was further enhanced. However, when onion was combined with these oils, the Z-isomer ratio decreased compared to that measured upon the combined use of onion with olive oil. Our results on these synergistic effects are not only important for the food and drink manufacturing industries but also for daily home cooking.

Tomato and human health: A perspective from post‐harvest processing, nutrient bio‐accessibility, and pharmacological interaction

“…This was supported by the low total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels in experimental human subjects consuming tomato juice with olive oil in a randomized control trial (Arranz et al., 2015). It is noteworthy to highlight that tomato lycopene, when reacted with selected food ingredients and vegetable oils such as garlic, broccoli, and olive oil, could undergo thermal Z‐isomerization (Honda et al., 2020).…”

Lycopene in the Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases

“…It should be noted that even well-planned nutritional concepts, the role of which is to enrich the human body with lycopene, may not be fully sufficient to compensate for this deficit. The result is its poor intestinal absorption, low bioavailability, and decreased liver capacity by incorporating lycopene into lipoprotein carriers [118]. Therefore, the development of new lycopene supplements with increased bioavailability is of great importance in the light of modern nutritional science.…”

Application of <i>E/Z</i>-Isomerization Technology for Enhancing Processing Efficiency, Health-Promoting Effects, and Usability of Carotenoids: A Review and Future Perspectives

“…However, a majority of these previous studies used highly toxic heavy metal catalysts, such as iron (III) chloride, copper (II) chloride, and titanium tetrachloride 43, 60−62) . In recent studies conducted by us, specific food ingredients were observed to possess Z-isomerization-promoting effects and the causative agents, such as isothiocyanates and polysulfides, were successfully identified 52,63,64) . Specifically, we investigated the effect of 131 food ingredients (fresh vegetables, fresh mushrooms, dried spices, and dried seaweeds) on the total Z-isomer ratio of lycopene in tomato puree containing 5％ olive oil after heating at 80℃ for 1 h. The results of this test revealed that specific vegetables, such as Allium sp.…”