Tomato-antioxidants enhance viability of L. reuteri under gastrointestinal conditions while the probiotic negatively affects bioaccessibility of lycopene and phenols

Bioaccessibility of the antioxidant compounds was within 10% and 30%, being higher for phenolic compounds in raw tomato but lower for total lycopene. Finally, although the presence of Lactobacillus reuteri ATCC 55730 reduced the bioaccessibility of antioxidant compounds, the results suggests that the tomato's antioxidant compounds could have a protective effect against the loss of viability of the probiotic.