The Influence of Increasing Lecithin Concentrations on Carotenoid Bioaccessibility and Cell Uptake

We sought to determine if lecithin would produce a dose-response effect, increasing carotenoid bioaccessibility and Caco-2 cell uptake. A mixture of β-carotene, lycopene, lutein zeaxanthin was digested with concentrations (0–10 mg lecithin/mL test meal) ∼4% vegetable oil (n = 6 per condition). In vitro gastric, duodenal, jejunal digestion mimicked for 1 h each, the micellar fraction isolated analysis. Additionally, cells producing monolayer reflecting small intestinal phenotype were incubated micellular 4 h, harvested extraction. The extracted hexane dichloromethane, organic phase dried under argon. Micellular carotenoids quantitated using high performance liquid chromatography-diode-array detection (HPLC-DAD), while cellular UHPLC-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). One-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post-hoc used assess statistically significant differences between doses on Fractions digesta also visualized confocal microscopy, better elucidate lecithin-micelle interaction. Lecithin significantly increased β-carotene only when comparing most extreme tested. No observed lycopene or bioaccessibility. Likewise, did not increase in uptake range Overall, had minimal impact bioaccessibility, carotenoids. This work supported research grant from Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc.