Enriched (Z)-lycopene in Tomato Extract via Co-Extraction of Tomatoes and Foodstuffs Containing Z-isomerization-accelerating Compounds

Masaki Honda,Kohei Ichihashi,Motonobu Goto,Kazuya Murakami,Wataru Takada

doi:10.3390/catal11040462

Abstract

The aim of this study was to promote the Z-isomerization of lycopene in its extraction process from tomato pulp by adding foodstuffs containing Z-isomerization-accelerating compounds. The addition of onion, broccoli, mustard, makonbu (Saccharina japonica), or shiitake mushroom (Lentinus edodes) to the ethyl acetate extraction process significantly accelerated the Z-isomerization of lycopene. For example, when lycopene was extracted from tomato pulp at 70 °C without foodstuffs, the total Z-isomer ratio of lycopene in the extract was 38.4 ± 0.5%, whereas when onion, broccoli, mustard, makonbu, and shiitake mushroom were added to the process and the extraction was performed using the same procedure, the total Z-isomer ratios significantly increased to 53.6 ± 0.4, 47.9 ± 0.3, 48.2 ± 0.1, 41.5 ± 0.9, and 42.0 ± 1.2%, respectively. Since the above foodstuffs contain large amounts of carotenoid Z-isomerization-accelerating catalysts, i.e., polysulfides, isothiocyanates, or iodine, those components would promote Z-isomerization of lycopene in the extraction process. Since lycopene Z-isomers potentially have higher bioavailability and biological effects than the all-E-isomer, lycopene extraction with foodstuffs having a Z-isomerization-promoting effect in ethyl acetate should enhance the health benefits of tomato extracts.

Highlights

Lycopene is an acyclic carotenoid that imparts the characteristic bright-red color to ripe tomatoes and processed tomato products [1,2]
Lycopene isomers in a raw material and the extracts obtained by the ethyl acetate extraction at 70 ◦ C for 1 h were analyzed by normal-phase HPLC according to previous studies [2,14,15,22,23,24]
The HPLC chromatograms clearly showed that most lycopene in tomato pulp was present as the all-E-isomer, whereas various peaks related to the Z-isomers, especially the 13Z-isomer, were observed in the extracts

Summary

Introduction

Lycopene is an acyclic carotenoid that imparts the characteristic bright-red color to ripe tomatoes and processed tomato products [1,2]. Lycopene has received increasing attention because of its potential anti-cancer and anti-obesity activities, as well as strong antioxidant capacity [3,4]. Lycopene predominantly occurs in its all-E-configuration, whereas in the living body, such as in the blood and in several tissues, more than 50% of the total lycopene exists as Z-isomers (Figure 1) [2,6,7]. This suggests that lycopene Z-isomers have greater bioavailability and tissue accumulation efficiency than the all-E-isomer.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion