*2.1. Materials*

Food-grade sodium alginate and calcium chloride (CaCl2) were purchased from a local shop (Phoon Huat, Singapore). Soy protein isolate (SPI, New Fujipro SEH; Fuji Oil Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) formulation was generously sponsored by Fuji Oil Holdings Inc. (Izumisano-shi, Japan), and its protein content was about 90%. FloraGlo lutein was sponsored by DSM company (Dutch State Mines, DU, Heerlen, The Netherlands) and was known to be extracted from *Tagetes erecta*. Safflower oil (SO) was purchased from iHerb (Eden Foods, Clinton, Michigan, US) and olive oil (OL) was purchased from the local supermarket (NTUC FairPrice, Singapore). Pure lutein standards, amylase (10 U/mg), pepsin (695 U/mg), pancreatin (P7545, 8 X USP) and bile salt were purchased from Sigma Aldrich (St. Louis, MI, USA). All used chemicals were of analytical-grade and all solvents for lutein extraction were of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-grade.
