Advances in food carotenoid research: chemical and technological aspects, implications in human health

This article reviews advances on carotenoid analysis, carotenoid composition of foods and influencing factors, alterations during processing and storage, and the role of food carotenoids in human health. Substantial progress has been achieved in refining analytical methods to assure the accuracy of carotenoid data. Although carotenoid analysis is inherently difficult and error prone, more complete and reliable databases are now available, especially of carotenoids considered important to human health. The carotenoid composition of foods vary qualitatively and quantitatively. Even in a given food, compositional variability occurs because of factors such as maturity, varietylcultivar, climate or season, part of the plant consumed, production practices, post-harvest handling, processing and storage conditions. During processing, isomerisation of trans-carotenoids to the cis-forms occurs, with consequent alteration of the carotenoids\u27 bioavailability and bioconversion. The principal cause of carotenoid loss during processing and storage of food is enzymatic or non-enzymatic oxidation. The bioavailability of carotenoids is influenced by many factors, and studies on this important topic have been confounded by wide variation in individual response and the existence of non-responders. In spite of reported evidence to the contrary and some weaknesses in earlier studies, the weight of evidence favours improvement of the vitamin A status of deficient children and adults on consumption of food sources of provitamin A. This is supported by more recent studies. More evidence has also been presented for the role of carotenoids, provitamins A or not, in reducing the risk of degenerative diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, cataract and macular degeneration