The release of carotenoids fromfresh fruits or vegetables is determined by the encapsulating plant tissuematrix,
intracellular carotenoid locationwithin the cell, and themastication process. The objectives of this study were to
assess the particle sizes obtained after mastication of mango fruit tissue, and how the resulting degree of plant
tissue rupture affects carotenoid bioaccessibility. A fine and a coarse chewer were selected after screening 20
healthy volunteers for in vivo humanmastication, and the collected chewed boluseswere subjected towet sieving
fractionation, followed by an in vitro gastric and small intestinal digestion model. Confocal micrographs showthat
the smallest particle size fraction (0.075 mm) consists mostly of fragmented cells and the largest size fraction
(2.8 mm) contains bulky clusters of whole cells and vascular fibers. Higher amounts of total carotenoids
(211–320 μg/100 g) were observed in the larger particle size fraction (2.8 mm) relative to the 1 mm
(192–249 μg/100 g) and 0.075 mm fractions (136–199 μg/100 g). Smaller particles showed a greater %
release of total carotenoids after in vitro digestion. Xanthophyll derivatives are more bioaccessible than
β-carotene for all particle sizes. The effects of particle size or degree of fine vs coarse chewing are unexpectedly
small (p N 0.05), but the process of chewing substantially reduced the release of β-carotene and xanthophylls
by 34% and 18%, respectively.While there is a (small) particle size effect, this appears to not be the primary factor
controlling bioaccessibility for soft tissues such as mango, in contrast to previous reports that a single cell wall
appears to be enough to prevent bioaccessibility of carotenoids in more robust carrot tissues.