Researchers in Russia and the UK have published a study that suggests lycopene-enriched ice cream is a new functional food with clear antioxidant properties.
BASF is building the use of its nature identical lycopene by introducing a new cold-water dispersible version for use in beverages and food applications.
Supplements of the lycopene, the carotenoid that give tomatoes
their red colour, may be as effective as statins to reduce the
formation of plaques in the arteries that cause atherosclerosis,
says a new study with rabbits.
Researchers from Taiwan are eying a combination of gelatin and
poly(-glutamic acid) (-PGA) for the encapsulation of lycopene from
tomato pulp waste, offering alternatives for the ingredient
increasingly in the consumer's eye.
The potential health promoting characteristics of tomatoes have led
to a steady increase in the inclusion of the tomato carotenoid
lycopene as a food colour and a functional food ingredient.