Lutein-enriched frankfurter-type products: Physicochemical characteristics and lutein in vitro bioaccessibility

This paper reports a study of the physicochemical characteristics of lutein-enriched frankfurter-type products with two fat levels, and the lutein in vitro bioaccessibility in these products. In general, the high-fat products possessed better emulsion stability and greater hardness and chewiness than low-fat samples. For each fat level, the addition of lutein extract in olive oil reduced emulsion stability in meat products. The presence of lutein reduced the lightness and increased the redness of samples. Lutein was highly stable upon in vitro digestion, with overall recovery of over 84% at the end of the duodenal phase and very low isomerisation. Micellarisation was high but depended on the fat content, ranging from 29–34% (for the low-fat sample) up to 73–81% of the amount initially present (for the high-fat sample). Storage (22 days at 4 °C) did not significantly affect lutein content or bioaccessibility. Our results support the suitability of meat products as lutein carriers and as a means to increase the systematic intake of lutein.