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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Utilisation of natural carotenoids from Momordica cochinchinensis (gac) as health compounds : extraction and bioactvity depending on the origin and on the process

subject

description

The aril of Momordica cochinchinensis (gac), plant from the Cucurbitaceae family, is the richest source of lycopene and β-carotene, which are a strong antioxidant and a pro-vitamin A, respectively, interesting for health-complements. First, a process of soft extraction-fractionation was developed for extracting effectively the natural carotenoids from gac without loss of their original quality. Then, the lycopene and β-carotene extracted from gac were analyzed and characterized. At least 95% of the extracts were composed of the all-trans isomer. They were not degraded during the heat-treatment mimicking formulation processing. Their thermal stereo-mutation was evaluated. Lycopene is more antioxidant, it is thus isomerized more rapidly than β-carotene at high temperature. The isomerization of carotenoids increases their antioxidant activity that was evaluated by the chemical test TEAC and through the hemolysis of red blood cells (KRL) in vitro. The lycopene and β-carotene from gac are notably more antioxidant than Trolox. By comparing with other sources of β-carotene, carotenoids extracted from gac in these soft conditions keep their antioxidant properties, even at high concentration, contrasting with extracts obtained in classical conditions that become prooxidant. From these results, the bioactivity of carotenoids is discussed from their quality and their origin that is their source and extraction process. For application, in addition to the fractionation process which is easily transferable to the industry scale, the heat-treatment used in this study is interesting for controlling products rich in functional carotenoids