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Abstract: Dehydration can significantly extend the shelf life of dried carrots and still retain nutrition of provitamin A carotenoids. In vitro digestion model was used in this study to assess the effect of drying temperatures of heat pump and dietary fat on the bioaccessibility of β-carotene in carrots. Also, low-speed centrifugation was employed to obtain β-carotene release rate in supernatant. Microfiltration was applied to obtain β-carotene micellar rate in micelle phase. These assays were used as indicators to assess the bioaccessibility of the β-carotene. Despite higher drying temperatures had a negative effect on the retention rate of β-carotene in carrots, it showed a positive impact on the micellar rate. In addition, dietary fat significantly increased the release rate and micellar rate of β-carotene for both fresh carrots and dried carrot products, with the highest release rate and micellar rate obtained when 10% dietary fat was added. Therefore, the heat pump drying process and dietary fat can significantly improve the bioaccessibility of β-carotene in carrots, which may increase the β-carotene bioavailability to human.
Keywords: bioaccessibility, in vitro digestion, β-carotene, carrot, heat pump drying
DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20171004.2375
(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)
1Introduction
Carrots are rich in vitamins and minerals and contain a high content of carotenoid. The majority of the carotenoid contained in carrots is ß-carotene, in range of 46.0-130.0 ,?g/g[1l As an important source of vitamin A in the human diet, carotenoid has antioxidant and free-radical scavenging properties to reduce the risk of cancer, cardiovascular diseases and various types of degenerative chronic diseases12"41. Carrots have been wildly planted with high yield in China. However, fresh carrots are hard to be stored due to high moisture content. Dehydration is a feasible method, which may significantly extend the shelf life of dried carrots and still retain their nutrition and taste. Dehydrated carrots are also easier to transport and store[5].
Healthy processed food requires not only good sensory properties but also retention of nutrients during processing. Carotene from carrots is in the form of crystal and is stored in the thylakoid membrane of chromoplast. Carotene is in conjunction with membrane proteins. Due to the structural integrity of cells and the protective effect of lipoproteins and other substances, the ß-carotene exhibits high stability. During the dehydration process, the cell...