Increased release of carotenoids and delayed in vitro lipid digestion of high pressure homogenized tomato and pepper emulsions

Carotenoids are lipophilic compounds that are digested and absorbed along with lipids. Emulsions based on a mixture of plum tomato and red sweet pepper, with 5% or 10% rapeseed oil, were obtained by high pressure homogenization, and the concentration of carotenoids in the emulsion oil droplets was quantified. The fraction of lycopene and beta-carotene released from the plant matrix into the oil droplets was highest in the 10% emulsion, which had larger oil droplets than the 5% emulsion. Xanthophylls were easily released into oil droplets in both 5% and 10% emulsions. The results suggest that the release of carotenoids made available for intestinal absorption depends on carotenoid type and can be significantly improved by increasing the homogenization pressure and oil content. However, in vitro gastrointestinal digestion indicated the presence of constituents or structures in the emulsions, originating from tomato, that reduced pancreatic activity, which may delay micellarization and uptake of carotenoids.