The microstructure from Carrots could have an effect on the bioaccesability of Carotenes.
16 Aug 2010
Juan Valverde
Two recent scientific articles have studied the effect of microstructure of carrots and its relationship with their digestion and consequently with the release of carotenes and their uptake in the upper intestinal tract. Both studies were conducted by the same research team and published in JAFC.
The first paper deals with an in-vitro simulation of carrot digestion and the second one with in-vivo digestion.
The bioaccessibility studies deal with the release of bioactives from food or drug matrix into a solubilized form. Bioaccessibility can give an idea to researchers on the fraction of an administrated dose of bioactive compounds that is absorbed into the systemic circulation (blood circulation). However, the studies in bioaccessibility during the process of digestion are seldom, due to the technical difficulty to obtain such material. Therefore in-vitro models are needed. In-vitro models can be validated by in-vivo models.
In the first paper, where in-vitro model simulation was carried out, the carotene partitioning into an emulsified oil phase was assessed using raw carrot tissue and carrot tissue subjected to various degrees of heating and particle size reduction. In simple words, the different carrot tissues where mixed with oil and after some time the content of carotene in the oil was assessed. All different formulations gave lower content of carotene in the oil, when compared with a control (simple carrot juice).
Also carotene was more present in the oil fraction from raw tissues that in the heated ones of the same particle size. Researchers believe that this is explained by the differences in the microstructure of the carrot. The intact cells present in the formulations could "trap" the carotene making it less bioaccessible. Therefore researchers suggest that a total cell-wall rupture prior to digestion is needed for an increased bioaccesibility of carotene.
For further details on this study please check the following links:
Effect of Carrot (Daucus carota) Microstructure on Carotene Bioaccessibilty in the Upper Gastrointestinal Tract. 1. In Vitro Simulations of Carrot Digestion
Elizabeth A. Tydeman, Mary L. Parker, Martin S. J. Wickham, Gillian T. Rich, Richard M. Faulks, Michael J. Gidley, Annette Fillery-Travis, Keith W. Waldron
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry Article ASAP http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/jf101034a
Effect of Carrot (Daucus carota) Microstructure on Carotene Bioaccessibility in the Upper Gastrointestinal Tract. 2. In Vivo Digestions
Elizabeth A. Tydeman, Mary L. Parker, Richard M. Faulks, Kathryn L. Cross, Annette Fillery-Travis, Michael J. Gidley, Gillian T. Rich, Keith W. Waldron
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry Article ASAP http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/jf1010353
