  Lycopene, rich in red, yellow, or orange-colored fruits and vegetables, is
the most potent antioxidant among the other carotenoids available in human
blood plasma. It is evident that regular lycopene intake can prevent chronic
diseases like cardiovascular diseases, type-2 diabetes, hypertension, kidney
diseases and cancer. However, thermal processing, light, oxygen, and enzymes in
gastrointestinal tract (GIT) compromise the bioaccessibility and
bioavailability of lycopene ingested through diet. Nanoencapsulation provides a
potential platform to prevent lycopene from light, air oxygen, thermal
processing and enzymatic activity of the human digestive system.
Physicochemical properties evidenced to be the potential indicator for
determining the bioaccessibility of encapsulated bioactive compounds like
lycopene. By manipulating the size or hydrodynamic diameter, zeta potential
value or stability, polydispersity index or homogeneity and functional activity
or retention of antioxidant properties observed to be the most prominent
physicochemical properties to evaluate beneficial effect of implementation of
nanotechnology on bioaccessibility study. Moreover, the molecular mechanism of
the bioavailability of nanoparticles is not yet to be understood due to lack of
comprehensive design to identify nanoparticles' behaviors if ingested through
oral route as functional food ingredients. This review paper aims to study and
leverage existing techniques about how nanotechnology can be used and verified
to identify the bioaccessibility of lycopene before using it as a functional
food ingredient for therapeutic treatments.
