Carotenoids functional benefits

Functional benefits of carotenoids vision, cancer and cardiovascular disease... 

All the actual or putative functional benefits of carotenoids are dependent on their bioavailability amounts consumed, amounts released from the food structure during digestion and extent of absorption and tissue distribution. The following three sections deal with each of these issues in turn. 

With investigations of phytochemicals and functional foods, the outcome measure is generally going to be a biomarker of disease, such as serum cholesterol level as a marker of heart disease risk, or indicators of bone turnover as markers of osteoporosis risk. Alternatively, markers of exposure may also indicate the benefit from a functional food by demonstrating bioavailability, such as increased serum levels of vitamins or carotenoids. Some components will be measurable in both ways. For instance, effects of a folic acid-fortified food could be measured via decrease in plasma homocysteine levels, or increase in red blood cell folate. 

Although the benefits of many functional ingredients have yet to be proven, there is a possibility for new health problems to arise if the market for fortified functional foods continues to expand. Some consumers may ingest excessive amounts of certain nutritional food additives such as iron, which could lead to an increased incidence of hemachromatosis in genetically predisposed people. Fortification with specific carotenoids may competitively inhibit the bioavailability of other carotenoids, perhaps leading to adverse physiological consequences. 

Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamtwides). This is a hardy bush growing wUd in several parts of Asia and Europe and now cultivated in Europe, North America, and Japan. It is resistant to cold, drought, salt, and alkali. Different oils are available from the seeds and from the pulp/peel, but these are not always kept separate. Several health benefits are claimed for this oil, which is now available in encapsulated form and is being incorporated into functional foods. The oil is rich in sterols, carotenoids, and tocopherols. The seed oil is rich in 18 1, 18 2, and 18 3, but the berry oil contains significant levels of 16 1 (16-22%) (166-169). 

Research into food safety, both microbial and chemical food safety, has been accompanied by a parallel effort to identify, test, and optimize healthy constituents of foods. The interest in chemicals in foods extends beyond traditional areas - vitamins, essential minerals, etc. - to secondary chemicals sometimes termed phytonutrients or neutraceuticals which have positive health benefits including prevention or alleviation of diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer s disease, cancer, arthritis, and many other diseases. Food producers use this information as a marketing tool. Compounds of interest include phenols/polyphenols, flavonoids, carotenoids, anthocyanins, and several other classes that function as antioxidants,... 

Seaweeds are a good source of some water- (Bj, B2, B,2, C) and fat-soluble (P-carotene with vitamin A activity, vitamin E) vitamins. To ensure that the adequate intake of all vitamins is received in the diet, people (especially peopleon specialdiet, strict vegetarians, and vegans) can consume foods enriched with vitamins, for example, in the form of functional foods with vitamins as nutraceuticals, extracted from natural sources such as seaweeds. Seaweed vitamins are important not only due to their biochemical functions and antioxidant activity but also due to other health benefits such as decreasing of blood pressure (vitamin C), prevention of cardiovascular diseases (P-carotene), or reducing the risk of cancer (vitamins E and C, carotenoids). 

Carotenoids are derived from tetraterpenes and are assumed to provide health benefits by decreasing the risk of disease, particularly in cancers and eye disease. For the production of hy-droxylated carotenoids, along with functional identification of the involved enzymes, P450s from Oryza sativa were introduced in carotenoid-producing A. coli strains (Fig. 8.16) [409]. CYP97 A4 catalyzed the conversion of P-carotene to P-cryptoxanthin and zeaxanthin. In contrast, CYP97C2 converted oidy the e-ring substrates 5-carotene and e-carotene. 

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