Bioaccessibility and Caco-2 uptake of complex carotenoids profiles from Pitanga (Eugenia uniflora) and Buriti (Mauritia flexuosa) fruits

Abstract

Abstract Carotenoids are compounds from secondary metabolism of plants which have many essential health benefits for humans. Tropical fruits contain considerable amounts of carotenoids that have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, provitamin A and anticancer actions, such as β-carotene and lycopene. The fate of complex carotenoid profiles from several fruit matrix still unknow. Pitanga and Buriti are very tasty, colorful and productive fruits from Brazilian biodiversity with potential to increment the nutrition of several populations. These fruits were analyzed for their carotenoid profiles, stability, bioaccessibility and uptake by in vitro digestion coupled to Caco-2 cells culture model. Complete profile of carotenoids were obtained by HPLC-DAD allowing to access detailed behavior of 14 carotenoids during the in vitro studies. Pitanga showed more complex profile of carotenes and xanthophylls than buriti which had higher concentration of total carotenes. Pitanga carotenoids are statistically less stable than buriti, while xanthophylls were less stable than carotenes. Violaxanthin, lutein and zeaxanthin from pitanga were significantly more bioaccessible than other carotenes excepting cis-γ-carotene. Similarly, in buriti, xanthophylls and γ-carotene forms were significantly more bioaccessible than the other carotenoids. The Caco-2 cells experiment showed that an important fraction of xanthophylls are absorbed in their esterified forms, despite β-carotene had the highest uptake. Pitanga presented higher cellular absorption of carotenoids than buriti. This work evidence the essential need to better understand the bioaccessibility of carotenoids in diverse plant food matrix.