Carotenoids and carotenoid esters of orange- and yellow-fleshed mamey sapote (Pouteria sapota (Jacq.) H.E. Moore & Stearn) fruit and their post-prandial absorption in humans

Abstract

Although different genotypes of mamey sapote with distinct pulp colors are consumed in countries from Central to South America, in-depth knowledge on genotype-related differences of their carotenoid profile is lacking. Since the fruit was found to contain the potentially vitamin A-active keto-carotenoids sapotexanthin and cryptocapsin, we sought to qualitatively and quantitatively describe the carotenoid profile of different genotypes by HPLC-DAD-MSⁿ. Sapotexanthin and cryptocapsin were present in all genotypes. Keto-carotenoids such as cryptocapsin, capsoneoxanthin, and their esters were most abundant in orange-fleshed fruit, whereas several carotenoid epoxides prevailed in yellow-fleshed fruit. Differing carotenoid profiles were associated with different color hues of the fruit pulp, while the widely variable carotenoid content (3.7-8.0mg/100gFW) was mainly reflected by differences in color intensity (chroma C^∗). Furthermore, the post-prandial absorption of sapotexanthin to human plasma was proven for the first time. Besides sapotexanthin, cryptocapsin was found to be resorbed.

Keywords: Bioavailability; Capsanthin-5,6-epoxide (PubChem CID: 25244605); Capsoneoxanthin (PubChem CID: 101078504); Carotenoids; Cryptocapsin; Cryptocapsin (PubChem CID: 14515709); Cryptoxanthin-5,6,5′,6′-diepoxide (PubChem CID: 21587178); Cryptoxanthin-5,6-epoxide (PubChem CID: 23256985); Keto-carotenoids; Luteoxanthin (PubChem CID: 12112747); Mamey sapote; Neoxanthin (PubChem CID: 5281247); Provitamin A; Sapotexanthin; Sapotexanthin (PubChem CID: 51042208); Violaxanthin (PubChem CID: 448438); β-carotene-5,6-epoxide (PubChem CID: 5281231).