Glycolipids improve lutein bioavailability and accumulation in eyes in mice.

Intestinal carotenoid absorption is greatly affected by dietary factors. In this study, it was hypothesized
that lipids with varying functional groups may influence differentially lutein bioavailability. Hence, the
influence of glyco-, phospho-, neutral, crude (mixture of lipids) lipids, or mixed micelles (control) on
the percent lutein micellarization in vitro and its postprandial plasma, liver, and eye response in mice were
investigated. Results show that the percent micellarization of lutein with crude lipids and glycolipids were
higher (91.4 and 45.7%) than control, while no significant difference was found between phospho- and
neutral lipids. The mean plasma response of lutein was higher for crude- (6 times), glyco- (3 times),
phospho- (2.7 times), and neutral (2 times) lipid than control (12.4 � 1.18 nmol/mL 8 h�1) group.
Lutein levels (pmol/g) in liver were higher in crude (7.4 � 1) and phospho- (3.6 � 0.8) lipid groups
while in eyes it was higher in glyco- (54.0) and neutral (21.2) lipid groups than control. The influential
effect of glyco- and phospholipids may be due to smaller micellar size (glyco-upto 3.43 mm, phosphoupto
5.78 mm) than the neutral lipids (upto 66 mm). Ingestion of lutein with glycolipid or phospholipids
may improve lutein bioavailability.
Practical applications: The findings of the present study will be useful in nutritional and biomedical
applications for feeding lutein with specific lipid combinations to achieve enhanced lutein absorption.
Specifically, feeding diet/emulsion with lutein and glyco- and phospholipid combination may reduce the
risk of macular degeneration, owing to the influential effect of these lipids on intestinal absorption of
lutein.