Turmeric chemistry

Govindarajan, V.S. (1980) Turmeric - chemistry, technology and quality. CRC Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition 1 2(3), 200-213. 

Govindarajan, V.S., Turmeric — chemistry, technology, and quality, Crit. Rev. Food ScL Nutr., 12, 199, 1980. 

Some colors are nutrients in their own right, and they have antioxidant properties that are beneficial to health. Beta-carotene, annatto, saffron, and turmeric all have these good properties in addition to their color. In fact, the same chemistry that makes them absorb light also helps them to absorb and neutralize dangerous oxygen free radicals in the body. 

Braga, M.E.M., Leal, P.F., Carvalho, J.O.E. and Meireles, M.A.A. (2003) Comparison of yield, composition, and antioxidant activity of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) extracts obtained using various techniques. journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 51,6604-6611. 

Gopalan, B., Goto, M., Kodama, A. and Hirose, T. (2000b) Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of turmeric (Curcuma longa). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 48, 21 89-2192. 

Apart from the derivatives of p-carotene, other pigments are the anthocyanins, the chlorophylls, cochineal, the betalaines, turmeric, caramel and riboflavin. In this account the historical background in brief, the chemistry of these pigments, their extraction from natural sources and their synthesis will be discussed. The present permitted natural substances and nature-identical synthetic materials (also described by the Food and Drugs Administration, the FDA, as colorants exempt from certification ) is quite small in number. Reference is also made to colourants no longer listed but which have an historical organic chemical significance such as for example brazilin and its relative haematoxylin. 

In mice and rats administered turmeric oleoresin (79-85% curcumin) daily in food at doses of 0,1000,5000,10,000, 25,000, or 50,000 ppm (equivalent to average daily doses of 50, 250,480,1300, or 2600 mg/kg in males and 60, 300,550,1450, or 2800 mg/kg in females) for 13 weeks, an increase in liver weights was observed at the 5000 ppm dose and above no histopathological lesions were observed, nor were there any significant differences in hematology, clinical chemistry, or urinalysis parameters, although some animals were noted to have stained fur and discolored feces and urine (NTP1993). 

Christian Gottlob Gmelin travelled in France, England, Norway, and Sweden (where he worked with Berzelius) and was professor (1817) of chemistry and pharmacy in Tubingen. He worked on lithium compounds (see p. 152), mineral analysis, etc. He mentions the turmeric paper test for boric acid, discovered artificial ultramarine independently of J. B. Guimet (1826), and translated the first three volumes of Berzelius s Jahres-Bericht (see p. 146). 

R. D. Hiserodt, C.-T. Ho, and R. T. Rosen, The characterization of volatile and semivolatUe components in powdered turmeric by direct thermal extraction gas chromatography—mass spectrometry, in Spices Flavor Chemistry and Antioxidant Properties (S. J. Risch and C.-T. Ho, eds.), ACS Symposium Series 660, American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 1997, p. 80. 

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