Sandesh G. M., C. Saran Kumar, P. Bharathi, M. Dhasarathan, A. Karthikeyan, V. Meenakshi, K. Thangaraj, S. Vellaikumar, V. Baskaran, N. Senthil*
Keywords:
β-carotene, maize, β carotene retention, invitro digestion, Bioavailability
β-carotene rich maize hybrids were developed to target vitamin A deficient populations in developing countries. However, processing the maize into food products may reduce its
β-carotene content. Thus, understanding β-carotene retention is important for assessing efficacy of biofortified foods. The objectives of this study were to determine the concentration of
β-carotene in biofortified maize hybrids as well as to evaluate their retention during processing of popular maize foods consumed in India. The β-carotene content in maize hybrids and their food products were estimated through high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
Results showed that β-carotene content ranged from 0.61-6.35µg/g in raw maize inbreds, after invitro digestion the bioavailabity of β-carotene ranged 0.33-4.03 µg/g. In food products the retention of β-carotene was 24.14-58.78 % as the β-carotene degradation will be influenced by the processing methods and external environmental conditions like light, temperature, pH, oxidation and storage. In conclusion, the degradation of β-carotene occurs during digestion storage and cooking thus for development of biofortified maize hybrids the bioavailability and their retention plays a significant role. This study demonstrates, there is a need to optimize and recommend maize processing methods in which there will be maximum retention of provitamin A, β-carotene to ensure optimum delivery of β-carotene to consumer.
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