Lycopene in Beverage Emulsions: Optimizing Formulation Design and Processing Effects for Enhanced Delivery

Physicochemical and nutritional properties of yogurt emulsion with lycopene during chilled storage

Lycopene is a highly potent antioxidant that is prevalent among dietary carotenoids. However, its use in food formulations is restricted due to its poor water-solubility and proneness to oxidation. The aim of this research was to encapsulate lycopene in yogurt using emulsion technology for improving its stability during processing and storage, in order to diversify a widely consumed food product and enhance its nutritional value. Confocal laser microscopy data showed that the incorporation of oil droplets with emulsification did not have a negative effect on the formation and microstructure of yogurt. Syneresis of lycopene-fortified yogurt samples was approximately twice as high compared with plain yogurt at day 7; the ability to retain water was significantly improved with storage time for all emulsified samples. Additionally, storage reduced the Turbiscan Stability Indices (TSI) for all yogurt samples, which suggests that physical stability improved at 4 °C. Emulsification resulted in increased oxidation levels due to increased oil content. This effect was ameliorated by lycopene encapsulation, which effectively protected corn oil from oxidation and prevented degradation. This study indicates that emulsification is a promising method for lycopene encapsulation and can be used for developing yogurt with desirable nutritional properties.

Valuable Natural Antioxidant Products Recovered from Tomatoes by Green Extraction

Lycopene, β-carotene and ω-fatty acids are major compounds in tomatoes with known antioxidant activity, capable of preventing health disorders. The identification of potential natural sources of antioxidants, extraction efficiencies and antioxidant activity assessments are essential to promote such products to be used in the food, pharmaceutical or cosmetic industries. This work presents four added-value products recovered from tomatoes: pigmented solid oleoresin, pigmented oil and two raw extracts from supercritical and Soxhlet extraction. Different parameters including the matrices of tomatoes, extraction methods, green solvents and operating parameters were varied to obtain extracts with different qualities. Extract analysis was performed using UV-VIS, FT-IR, GC-MS, Folin-Ciocalteu and DPPH methods. The highest-quality extract was the solid oleoresin obtained from pomace using supercritical CO2 extraction at 450 bar, 70 °C and 11 kg/h: 1016.94 ± 23.95 mg lycopene/100 g extract, 154.87 ± 16.12 mg β-carotene/100 g extract, 35.25 ± 0.14 mg GAE/g extract and 67.02 ± 5.11% inhibition DPPH. The economic feasibility of the three extraction processes (1:10:100 kg dried pomace/batch as scalability criterion) was evaluated. The most profitable was the supercritical extraction process at the highest capacity, which produces pigmented solid oleoresin and oil with high content of lycopene valorized with a high market price, using natural food waste (pomace).

Bio-Availability, Anticancer Potential, and Chemical Data of Lycopene: An Overview and Technological Prospecting

The purpose of this review was to collect relevant chemical data about lycopene and its isomers, which can be extracted using different non-polar or polar aprotic solvents by SC-CO₂ or biosynthesis as a friendly technique. Lycopene and other carotenoids can be identified and quantified by UV–Vis and HPLC using a C18 or C30 column, while their characterization is possible by UV–Vis, Fluorescence, FTIR, MS, NMR, and DSC assays. Among these techniques, the last four can compare lycopene isomers and identify cis or all-trans-lycopene. FTIR, MS, and NMR techniques are more suitable for the verification of the purity of lycopene extracts due to the signal complexity generated for each isomer, which enables identification by subtle differences. Additionally, some biological activities of lycopene isolated from red vegetables have already been confirmed, such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and cytotoxic activity against cancer cells, probably by activating several pathways. The encapsulation of lycopene in nanoparticles demonstrated an improvement in oral delivery, and ex vivo assessments determined that these nanoparticles had better permeation and low cytotoxicity against human cells with enhanced permeation. These data suggest that lycopene has the potential to be applied in the food and pharmaceutical industries, as well as in cosmetic products.

Nanosystems of plant-based pigments and its relationship with oxidative stress

Plant-based pigments are widely present in nature, they are classified depending on their chemical structure as tetrapyrroles, carotenoids, polyphenolic compounds, and alkaloids and are extensively used in medicine, food industry, clothes, and others. Recently they have been investigated due to their role in the areas of food processing, food safety and quality, packaging, and nutrition. Many studies indicate a relationship between bioactive pigments and Non-Communicable Diseases derived from oxidative stress. Their biological applications can help in preventing oxidative injuries in the cell caused by oxygen and nitrogen reactive species. Those pigments are easily degraded by light, oxygen, temperature, pH conditions, among others. Nanotechnology offers the possibility to protect bioactive ingredients and increase its bioavailability after oral administration. Safety to humans (mainly evaluated from toxicity data) is the first concern for these products. In the present work, we present a comprehensive outlook of the most important plant-based pigments used as food colorants, the principal nanotechnology systems prepared with them, and the relationship of these compounds with the oxidative stress and related Non-Communicable Disease.

New insights into cadmium stressful-conditions: Role of ethylene on selenium-mediated antioxidant enzymes

Cadmium (Cd) contamination has generated an environmental problem worldwide, leading to harmful effects on human health and damages to plant metabolism. Selenium (Se) is non essential for plants, however it can improve plant growth and reduce the adverse effects of abiotic stress. In addition, ethylene may interplay the positive effects of Se in plants. In order to investigate the role of ethylene in Se-modulation of antioxidant defence system in response to Cd-stress, we tested the hormonal mutant Epinastic (epi) with a subset of constitutive activation of the ethylene response and Micro-Tom (MT) plants. For this purpose, Se mineral uptake, Cd and Se concentrations, pigments, malondialdeyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) contents, ethylene production, glutathione (GSH) compound, and superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GR) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities were analysed in MT and epi plants submitted to 0.5 mM CdCl₂ and 1 μM of selenate or selenite. MT plants treated with both Se forms increased growth in the presence or not of 0.5 mM CdCl₂, but not change epi growth. Both Se forms reduced Cd uptake in MT plants and cause reverse effect in epi plants. P, Mg, S, K and Zn uptake increased in epi plants with Se application, irrespective to Cd exposure. Chlorophylls and carotenoids contents decreased in both genotypes under Cd exposure, in contrast to what was observed in epi leaves in the presence of Se. When antioxidant enzymes activities were concerned, Se application increased Mn-SOD, Fe-SOD and APX activities. In the presence of Cd, MT and epi plants exhibited decreased SOD activity and increased CAT, APX and GR activities. MT and epi plants with Se supply exhibited increased APX and GR activities in the presence of Cd. Overall, these results suggest that ethylene may be involved in Se induced-defence responses, that triggers a positive response of the antioxidant system and improve growth under Cd stress. These results showed integrative roles of ethylene and Se in regulating the cell responses to stressful-conditions and, the cross-tolerance to stress could be used to manipulate ethylene regulated gene expression to induce heavy metal tolerance.