Effect of dispersed form on the bioavailability of β-carotene from daily intake in humans

ABSTRACT

In a randomized double-blind crossover study, a canned beverage was prepared using an emulsion dispersion formulation (EM) of β-carotene and a crystal dispersion formulation (CR) of β-carotene; the beverages were ingested by human subjects daily for 2 weeks to compare the β-carotene bioavailability. EM-β-carotene enhanced the β-carotene concentrations in human plasma approximately 4-fold, but CR-β-carotene showed no statistically significant enhancement. Bioaccessibility is the ratio of the solubilized fraction to the whole amount ingested. Bioaccessibility of β-carotene from EM-β-carotene was higher than that from CR-β-carotene in an in vitro digestion test. Contrarily, β-carotene from CR-β-carotene, consists of all-trans-β-carotene, was higher than that from EM-β-carotene, consists of a mixture of cis and all-trans-β-carotene, on the uptake by intestinal Caco-2 cells, suggesting that bioaccessibility was a critical factor in β-carotene bioavailability in this study. EM-β-carotene thus has potential as a food coloring agent with value added because it enhances β-carotene bioavailability.

Graphical abstract

Experimental design of the β-carotene formulations trial, and differences in β-carotene concentration in human plasma before and after intake of β-carotene beverages.

KEYWORDS:

• β-carotene
• Caco-2
• food coloring agent
• in vitro digestion
• randomized double-blind crossover trial

Acknowledgments

We thank the volunteers for human subjects, the staff who prepared the canned beverages, the staff who prepared and analyzed the formulations, the hospital staff who collected the blood, and Dr. Isao Kobayashi for using Zetasizer Nano ZS on measuring of the average particle size. We also thank Enago (www.enago.jp) for the English language review.

Authors contributions

Eiichi Kotake-Nara designed, performed experiments, analyzed data, and, wrote the article. Megumi Hase performed the experiments of in vitro digestion experiments. Both authors contributed to the critical revision of the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.