Application and market prospect of luteolin in food processing

Lutein is a carotenoid, a natural pigment widely present in vegetables, fruits, flowers and other organisms, especially in marigold, which has the highest content and is orange or orange-yellow in color, with lutein and zeaxanthin as the main components.

01 Physicochemical properties and sources of lutein

Luteolin is its molecular formula is C40H56O2, relative molecular mass is 568.87. Luteolin is orange flavin powder, pulpy or yellow-brown liquid, with weak hay-like odor, insoluble in water, soluble in propanol, methanol, isopropanol and dichloroethane, good heat resistance performance.

Lutein is widely found in green vegetables. Among them, marigold has the highest lutein content. According to "GB 26405-2011 Food Safety National Standard Food Additive Lutein", the food additive lutein comes from marigold.

02 Function of lutein

1.Coloring function

Luteolin has a good coloring effect, because it has a bright yellow color, insoluble in water, soluble in oil, ethanol, strong coloring power, with resistance to light, heat, acid, alkali, etc., can be widely used in pastries, candy, beverages, rice and noodle products, can also be used in the coloring of health products and the coloring of the sugar coating of tablets, capsules.

2. Protect vision

Recent studies have shown that lutein and zeaxanthin can prevent damage caused by light in a part of the retina in the eye, and the mechanism has 2 points.

(1) Lutein can filter high-energy visible blue light. There is experimental evidence that a 40% reduction in blue light can greatly reduce the number of free radicals in the retina.

(2) Luteolin acts as an antioxidant to reduce the oxidative effect of light on the eye and control the formation of reactive oxides and free radicals.

3. Antioxidant function

As a carotenoid, lutein contains several unsaturated double bonds, which has a strong free radical scavenging effect and can play an antioxidant and slow down the effect of aging.

03 Application of lutein

1.Application of lutein in new resource food processing

Luteolin is applied in beverages and jellies as a colorant. When orange juice drinks, dairy drinks and carbonated drinks are added with luteolin, the retention power of luteolin is above 90% after 6 months of storage.

2. Protective effect of lutein esters on skin

There is evidence that long-term exposure to ultraviolet light depletes the carotenoid (including lutein) content of the skin in large amounts. Exposure to UVA and UVB causes cell-mediated inflammatory reactions in the skin due to the presence of reactive oxygen species, leading to erythema, swelling and affecting aesthetics. In severe cases, it even induces skin cancer heart. Some experiments show that luteolin can play a protective role, the main mechanism is the absorption of blue light in UVB, and can scavenge free radicals, the W can W reduce UV damage to the skin and protect the skin.

3. The role of lutein esters on poultry colorants

Natural lutein esters have multiple carbon-carbon double bond color-emitting groups, showing bright colors, different content of lutein esters color difference is obvious, from light yellow to red color domain span, and lutein esters compared with free lutein, there is no reactive group one by one diameter group at both ends, decided lutein esters can be applied from as a stable colorant.

04 Market Outlook

Lutein and zeaxanthin have been very active in the last 5 years. There are a number of product categories available in the market for the application of lutein. The main driving factor for the lutein market is consumer concern about age-related diseases such as macular degeneration. However, more new research is showing that lutein has applications in other health areas such as brain health, sports nutrition, skin health and sleep management, and these new findings will attract more attention to the ingredient from different groups of consumers.

Shaanxi Huike Botanical Development Co., Ltd. a integrated enterprise which is focus on natural products, Plant extract related products and services.We mainly focus on pharmaceutical, functional food, Freeze-dried powder,Natural Pigment,Homology of medicine and food,beverages and other business services.

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2022-7-20

Shaanxi Huike Botanical Development Co., Ltd.