Betalains bioavailability

Despite their potential health-promoting effects as dietary antioxidants, the fate of betalains in humans has been poorly studied. Betalain bioavailability was first demonstrated in humans by the appearance of betacyanins in urines after ingestion of beetroot extract" and red beet juice," indicating that these compounds are indeed absorbed. Although intact betacyanins (betanin and isobetaiun) appeared rapidly in human urine with a maximum excretion rate observed within 2.5 to 8 hr," betacy-anin recoveries in human urine were usually low (< 1% of the dose) over 24 hr postdose, suggesting that either the bioavailabifity of betacyaiuns from red beetroot is low or that renal clearance is a minor excretion route for these compounds. 

After ingestion of cactus pear fruit pulp, both betanin and indicaxanthin were found in human plasma (with AUCo i2 h values of 0.46 and 29.2 lunol/hr/mL, respectively), partly associated with LDL, and in urine (3 and 76%, respectively, of the ingested compounds)," indicating that indicaxanthin was better absorbed than betanin. The bioavailability of indicaxanthin from prickly pear fruit pulp was 20 times that of betanin, suggesting differences in the fates of the two classes of betalains (betacyanin and betaxanthins) in the human body. In rats, betanin appeared to be... 

Betalains and betanin have shown potent in vitro antioxidant activity. Betanin inhibited lipid perioxidation in vitro more potently than catechin " and in humans showed have high bioavailability. 

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See also in sourсe #XX -- [ ]

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