White-Tomato Colorless Carotenoid Microcapsules and Skin Barrier Resilience: Physicochemical Performance and Human Evidence

The stratum corneum limits water loss and helps the skin tolerate environmental stress. We evaluated a BCLC® white-tomato microcapsule enriched in phytoene and phytofluene, with attention to free oil, water activity and active-carotenoid retention, and compared these formulation data with human barrier studies. The optimized powders contained 6.31–7.58% phytoene plus phytofluene, had water activity of 0.29–0.34 and free oil of 1.3–1.7%. The non-encapsulated ethanol-extract comparator had 6.8% free oil. In a double-blind human study of a tomato-derived supplement predominantly containing phytoene and phytofluene, barrier strength increased by 59.9% after 12 weeks, barrier recovery was 38.8% faster, firmness improved by 9.34% and elasticity by 11.6%. A separate 16-week study reported lower TEWL among participants with higher baseline TEWL. The formulation measurements and human evidence identify TEWL, barrier-disruption/recovery testing, mechanical skin measures and circulating carotenoids as suitable endpoints for direct study of the BCLC® microcapsule.