Bioavailability of lutein from a lutein-enriched egg-yolk beverage and its dried re-suspended versions

Drying a fresh lutein-enriched egg-yolk beverage would extend its shelf life, however, functional properties should not be affected. It was investigated whether consumption of a dried beverage containing lutein-enriched egg-yolk significantly increases serum lutein. One-hundred healthy young subjects participated in this 6-weeks randomized controlled study. Subjects consumed either a “plain” control beverage (n¿=¿26), a fresh lutein-enriched egg-yolk beverage (n¿=¿25), a dried version of this beverage (n¿=¿25), or a beverage composed of the dried individual components of the drink (n¿=¿24). The fresh and both dried versions of the lutein-enriched egg-yolk beverage were able to increase serum lutein levels after 6 weeks of consumption (lutein change: -38¿±¿47¿nmol/L, +304¿±¿113¿nmol/L, +148¿±¿79¿nmol/L and +178¿±¿83¿nmol/L for control, fresh, dried and combined dried group respectively; p¿