How does the food matrix affect the provitamin A carotenoid in vitro bioaccessibility in fruit-based baby food?

Carotenoid bioaccessibility is an important predictor of absorption and provitamin A intake. Humans do not synthesize carotenoids which need to be acquired from the diet, mainly from green leafy vegetables and fruits with colors from yellow to red. The carotenoid composition of five industrialized fruit-based baby food (Assorted fruits (AF); Tropical fruits (TF); Apple, mango, and carrot (AMC); Papaya and orange (PO); and Grape and banana (GB)) acquired in Brazil was determined, and the carotenoid bioaccessibility was calculated after in vitro digestion by the Infogest 2.0 protocol. The provitamin A carotenoids were converted to RAE (retinol activity equivalent) to estimate the vitamin A value. (All-E)-& beta;-carotene bioaccessibility ranged from 5% for AF to 24% for AMC baby foods and from 1% for GB to 15.5% for TF baby foods for total carotenoid bioaccessibility. Regarding vitamin A intake, AMC baby food had the highest RAE value, 15 per portion of 120 g, corresponding to 3% of the dietary reference intake (DRI). Lipids and minerals positively affected the bioaccessibility of carotenoids, except for (all-E)-& alpha;-carotene. Interestingly, fiber content positively affected the bioaccessibility of (all-E)-& alpha;-carotene, while no effect was observed on the other carotenoids' micellarization.