Carotenoids saffron

Yellow to red Crocin Carotenoid Saffron crocus, Gardenia... 

Beta-carotene is used in foods to provide color (margarine would look as white as vegetable shortening without it). Another similar molecule, annatto, is used in cheeses. Another famous carotenoid dye, saffron, is used to color rice and other foods. 

The dye molecule in saffron is the carotenoid beta-gentiobiose crocetin. It is related to beta-carotene, and you can see the relationship in the center of the molecule. That center portion is the carotenoid pigment crocetin ... 

Saffron is a spice that is used sometimes for flavor, but mostly for the yellow color it imparts to foods. Because of its expense, saffron is often replaced in recipes by another carotenoid, annatto, or the unrelated dye molecule in turmeric. Like the other carotenoid dyes, saffron is an antioxidant, but its expense makes it unsuitable as a preservative or dietary supplement. 

Spices snch as paprika, saffron, and annatto, which are traditionally employed in different parts of the world, contain nniqne carotenoids. Fignre 4.2.2 shows the strnctnres of these carotenoids. 

FIGURE 4.2.2 Structures of carotenoids found in paprika (capsanthin and capsombin), saffron and gardenia (crocetin derivatives), and annatto (bixin and norbixin). 

Pfister, S. et al.. Isolation and structure elucidation of carotenoid-glycosyl esters in gardenia fruits Gardenia jasminoides Ellis) and saffron (Crocus sativus Linne), J. Agric. Food Chem., 44, 2612, 1996. 

Selim, K., Tsimidou, M., and Biliaderis, C.G., Kinetic studies of degradation of saffron carotenoids encapsulated in amorphous polymer matrices, Food Chem., 71, 199, 2000. 

The aroma and red color of the spice saffron are partly due to the style-specific accumulation of carotenoid cleavage products produced by both enzymatic and thermal degradation. M. Giaccio reviewed the renewed interest in saffron as a colorant, spice, and nutraceutical. " Crocetin is a C20 apocarotenoid derived from zeaxanthin (Figure 5.3.4B). ... 

Detailed information about carotenoids found in food or extracted from food and evaluated for their potential as food colorants appeared in Sections 4.2 and 6.2. We would like to mention some new data about the utilization of pure carotenoid molecules or extracts as allowed food additives. Looking to the list of E-coded natural colorants (Table 7.2.1), we can identify standardized colorants E160a through f, E 161a, and E161b as natural or semi-synthetic derivatives of carotenoids provided from carrots, annatto, tomatoes, paprika, and marigold. In addition, the extracts (powders or oleoresins) of saffron, - paprika, and marigold are considered more economical variants in the United States and European Union. 

Bathaie, SK, A Bolhasan, R Hoshyar, B Ranjbar, F Sabouni, and A-A Moosavi-Movahedi. 2007. Interaction of saffron carotenoids as anticancer compounds with ctDNA, Ohgo (dG.dC)15, and Oligo (dA.dT)15. DNA Cell Biol 26(8) 533-540. 

Saffron (Crocus sativus L. Iridaceae) finds use in medicine as well as a flavoring and coloring agent. It has three main chemical compounds. The bright red coloring carotenoids a bitter taste, picrocrocin and a spicy... 

Saffron extract contains many carotenoids such as crocetin, crocetin di-glucose ester, crocetin gentiobiose glucose ester, and crocin (crocetin di-gentiobiose ester), whose chemical structures are shown in Figure 58.1. These carotenoids scavenge free radicals, especially superoxide anions, and so may protect cells from oxidative stress. Indeed, it has been demonstrated that these carotenoids are useful in sperm cryoconservation and in protecting heptocytes from toxins. 

Another group of methods relies on the destruction of an indicator by an oxidant, leading to a decrease of its characteristic absorbance or fluorescence. Usually this decrease is not linear with time, so the method of choice for the analysis of data is the either the lag time measurement or the area-under-curve approach, that is, comparing the areas under curves of absorbance or fluorescence versus time for a reference sample and a sample studied. Antioxidants protecting the oxidizable substrate increase the area under the kinetic curve (Fig. 4). An absorptiometric method used the bleaching of the carotenoid crocin induced by ABAP (L23, T7). However, crocin is rather expensive and the recommended method of its preparation (by extraction of saffron) may lead to extracts of different composition and properties varying from batch to batch. 

Crocetin (C20) is a yellow (IP)2—(PI)2-derived dicarboxylic, acid (generalized structure -OOG-Gig-GOO-) from the styles of Crocus sativus (Iridaceae) (the saffron of Indian cooking and Buddhist robes). Grocin, the digentiobiose ester of crocetin, is water soluble, unlike other carotenoids which are lipophilic (fat soluble). Crocetin is a protein kinase inhibitor. Excess vitamin A (or excess pro-vitamin A) ingestion is toxic (dog liver consumption having caused the death of Sir Douglas Mawson s explorer companions in the Antarctic by this mechanism). 

Crocin is a carotenoid from the stigma of the saffron flower with many medicinal properties, including antioxidant effects. Crocin has the ability to prevent amyloid formation. The antiamy-loidogenic effect of crocin may be exerted not only by the inhibition of Ap amyloid formation but also by the disruption of amyloid aggregate [384],... 

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