Plant Source Foods
Chuong Pham-Huy, Bruno Pham Huy in Food and Lifestyle in Health and Disease, 2022
Flavonoids belong to the class of phenylpropanoids containing phenolic compounds, and have the widest color range, from pale-yellow to blue (22). Depending on their structures, flavonoids may be classified into about a dozen groups, such as chalcones, flavones, flavonols, and anthocyanins, and each group has its specific color. In particular, anthocyanins, a class of flavonoids, give colors from orange to blue and are found in many flowers, leaves, fruits, seeds, and other tissues (22). Anthocyanins are water-soluble pigments belonging to the phenolic group. They appear red, purple, or blue, depending to pH of plant part. They provide color in leaves, plant stem, roots, flowers, and fruits. Berries, currants, grapes, and some tropical fruits have high anthocyanin content (22, 26). Anthocyanin and its aglycone anthocyanidin possess antioxidative and antimicrobial activities, improve visual and neurological health, and protect against various chronic diseases (cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer) (26).
Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods
Robert E.C. Wildman, Richard S. Bruno in Handbook of Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods, 2019
The majority of naturally occurring flavonoids are actually glycosides, meaning a sugar moiety is attached. The attachment of hydroxyl groups and sugars will increase the hydrophilic properties of the flavonoid molecule, while attachment of methyl esters or modified isopentyl units will increase the lipophilic character. Anthocyanins and anthocyanidins (Figure 1.9) are produced by plants and function largely as coloring pigments. Basically, anthocyanins are anthocyanidins with sugar moieties attached at position 3 of the 3-carbon bridge between rings A and B.17 These molecules help attract animals for pollination and seed dispersal. They are responsible for the red, pink, blue, and violet coloring of many fruits and vegetables, including blueberries, apples, red cabbage, cherries, grapes, oranges, peaches, plums, radishes, raspberries, and strawberries. Only about 16 anthocyanidins have been identified in plants and include pelargonidin, cyanidin, delphinidin, peonidin, malvidin, and petunidin.
Chemistry of Syzygium cumini
K. N. Nair in The Genus Syzygium, 2017
Anthocyanins are plant pigments that are potential candidates for use as natural food colorant. The chemoprotective action of colored fruits, particularly berries, can be attributed to anthocyanins, which are glycosides of anthocyanidins. Additionally, antioxidant, antiproliferative, and anti-inflammatory activities are associated with anthocyanins (Banerjee et al. 2004; Veigas et al. 2008; Devkar et al. 2012). S. cumini fruit, particularly fruit skin, has been used as an anthocyanin source. Usually, incompletely ripe fruits have more anthocyanidins than fully ripe fruits. The anthocyanidin content at the 8% ripe stage is 5.96%, which is 133.04% times that of fully ripen fruits (Zhang and Diao 2012a). The pulp powder contains 0.54% anthocyanins, but seeds contain no detectable amount of anthocyanins. The highest anthocyanin yield (763.80 mg per 100 mL of fruit peel) can be obtained when 20% ethanol is used in combination with 1% acetic acid (Chaudhary and Mukhopadhyay 2013).
Stability enhancement of mulberry-extracted anthocyanin using alginate/chitosan microencapsulation for food supplement application
Published in Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology, 2018
Sorada Kanokpanont, Rungnapha Yamdech, Pornanong Aramwit
Anthocyanins are natural water-soluble pigments of various flowers, vegetables, and fruits which produce bright colours such as red, purple, and blue [1]. They belong to a class of flavonoids, which are the largest family of polyphenolic compounds. The basic structure of an anthocyanin is consisted of a flavylium core (2-phenyl-1-benzopyrylium) with various sugar groups attached and two benzoyl rings separated by a heterocyclic ring. Differences in the number of hydroxyl groups, the number and position of sugars attached to the molecule, and the nature and number of aliphatic and aromatic acids attached to the sugars contribute various chemical structures of anthocyanins [2]. It has increasing evidence to show that anthocyanins have potential health effects such as antioxidant, anticancer, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, and cardioprotective properties, and play vital role in the prevention of various diseases without toxicity [3–7]. Anthocyanins are widely used as natural colorants and nutraceuticals in functional food and beverage products [8–11]. Nevertheless, the highly instability of anthocyanins has limited their usage. It has been reported that anthocyanins are very sensitive to environmental conditions, for example oxygen, temperature, light, enzymes, pH, and food matrix composition, which may subsequently reduce their bioactivity and bioavailability [12,13].
The intraocular staining potential of anthocyanins and their retinal biocompatibility: a preclinical study
Published in Cutaneous and Ocular Toxicology, 2018
Lan-Hsin Chuang, An-Lun Wu, Nan-Kai Wang, Kuan-Jen Chen, Laura Liu, Yih-Shiou Hwang, Ling Yeung, Wei-Chi Wu, Chi-Chun Lai
Anthocyanins are a class of flavonoid compounds responsible for the bright red, orange, purple, and blue colours of most fruits and vegetables, including berries, purple carrots, purple corn, red radish, and red cabbage. Interest in the use of anthocyanins as natural colorants and value-added ingredients has increased due to their colour characteristics and potential health benefits. Due to their widespread distribution and occurrence in fruits and vegetables, anthocyanin consumption has been estimated to be as high as approximately 200 mg/day/person20. Anthocyanins have been reported to protect against diabetes-induced oxidative stress and inflammation in the retina21–24. Mixtures of anthocyanins from natural plants, such as the acai fruit, have been used to stain the ILM in cadaver eyes25. However, the safety of anthocyanins towards the ocular tissue and their effectiveness as vital dyes have not yet been completely elucidated. In the present study, 5 anthocyanins extracted from natural plants were selected for analysis: cyanidin (Cya), delphinidin (Del), luteolinidin (Lut), pelargonidin (Pel), and peonidin (Peo). These compounds are essential components of the human diet. Although their antioxidant properties are mostly lost when the compounds are consumed26, the intake of anthocyanins has been shown to exert beneficial effects on the retinal tissue in some studies20,27–30.
The NCI-N87 Cell Line as a Gastric Epithelial Model to Study Cellular Uptake, Trans-Epithelial Transport, and Gastric Anti-Inflammatory Properties of Anthocyanins
Published in Nutrition and Cancer, 2020
Allison Atnip, M. Mónica Giusti, Gregory T. Sigurdson, Mark L. Failla, Chureeporn Chitchumroonchokchai, Joshua A. Bomser
Anthocyanins are flavonoid pigments widely distributed in fruits and vegetables that are commonly present in the human diet. Daily intake of anthocyanins is generally higher than other flavonols reaching as much as 200 mg (1). Health benefits associated with anthocyanins include antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer activities that are likely related to their free radical scavenging activities (2,3). The bioavailability and metabolism of these compounds are not well characterized. This is primarily related to the complex chemistry of anthocyanins which structurally exists in a dynamic equilibrium that is dependent on pH and chemical substitution patterns of the aglycone moiety (1,4,5). In acidic conditions (pH 1–3), the flavylium cation predominates, while the open-ring chalcone or hemiketal forms dominate in mildly acidic environments (pH 4–6). At pH ≥7, the purple-blue quinoidal base is dominant (6). The structural equilibria can be displaced by differing substitution patterns with >700 unique structures having been identified (7), thus further confounding the study of anthocyanin metabolism.