Comparison of Two Static in Vitro Digestion Methods for Screening the Bioaccessibility of Carotenoids in Fruits, Vegetables, and Animal Products

In vitro digestion methods are routinely used to assess the bioaccessibility of carotenoids and other dietary lipophilic compounds. Here, we compared the recovery of carotenoids and their efficiency of micellarization in digested fruits, vegetables, egg yolk, and salmon and also in mixed-vegetable salads with and without either egg yolk or salmon using the static INFOGEST method22 and the procedure of Failla et al.16 Carotenoid stability during the simulated digestion was ≥70%. The efficiencies of the partitioning of carotenoids into mixed micelles were similar when individual plant foods and salad meals were digested using the two static methods. Furthermore, the addition of cooked egg or salmon to vegetable salads increased the bioaccessibility of some carotenoids. Our findings showed that the two methods of in vitro digestion generated similar estimates of carotenoid retention and bioaccessibility for diverse foods.