UK-based food company c, which is based on the red pigment of tomatoes (Lycopene), for the industrial production of new more efficient health valuable food extracts, vitamins and minerals.
Mediterranean and Mexican diets, which involve cooked tomatoes, have been linked to cardio- and cerebrovascular support and protection.
Scientists in Lycotec, Cambridge UK, led by Dr Ivan Petyaev, have discovered that certain components of tomato extracts during the cooking process can group around health valuable molecules from other fruit and vegetables and protect them from being inactivated not only during cooking but during digestion too.
As a result, more bioactive molecules, antioxidants and vitamins can be delivered and absorbed when the meal is cooked with tomatoes or in a tomato sauce.
Lycopene, the red pigment of tomatoes, plays an important role in this cooking process and is the key element of Lycotec's new, patented technology which models it - Lycosome.
According to the company, the ingredients based on Lycosome technology could be used by culinary practices outside Mexican-Mediterranean diets or by nutraceutical and functional food and beverage industries to create a new generation of products for cardio- and cerebrovascular support and protection.
The efficacy of Lycosome has been validated in a number of clinical trials. In a recently published study, the efficacy of whey protein was increased by more than 100 fold.
Lycosome technology can boost delivery and efficacy of biologically active molecules and can be used for a new generation of composite nutraceuticals, and fortification of functional food and beverages, the company said.
