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      Carotenoids and Their Isomers: Color Pigments in Fruits and Vegetables

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          Abstract

          Fruits and vegetables are colorful pigment-containing food sources. Owing to their nutritional benefits and phytochemicals, they are considered as ‘functional food ingredients’. Carotenoids are some of the most vital colored phytochemicals, occurring as all- trans and cis-isomers, and accounting for the brilliant colors of a variety of fruits and vegetables. Carotenoids extensively studied in this regard include β-carotene, lycopene, lutein and zeaxanthin. Coloration of fruits and vegetables depends on their growth maturity, concentration of carotenoid isomers, and food processing methods. This article focuses more on several carotenoids and their isomers present in different fruits and vegetables along with their concentrations. Carotenoids and their geometric isomers also play an important role in protecting cells from oxidation and cellular damages.

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          Most cited references100

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          Antioxidant capacities, phenolic compounds, carotenoids, and vitamin C contents of nectarine, peach, and plum cultivars from California.

          Genotypic variation in composition and antioxidant activity was evaluated using 25 cultivars, 5 each of white-flesh nectarines, yellow-flesh nectarines, white-flesh peaches, yellow-flesh peaches, and plums, at the ripe (ready-to-eat) stage. The ranges of total ascorbic acid (vitamin C) (in mg/100 g of fresh weight) were 5-14 (white-flesh nectarines), 6-8 (yellow-flesh nectarines), 6-9 (white-flesh peaches), 4-13 (yellow-flesh peaches), and 3-10 (plums). Total carotenoids concentrations (in microg/100 g of fresh weight) were 7-14 (white-flesh nectarines), 80-186 (yellow-flesh nectarines), 7-20 (white-flesh peaches), 71-210 (yellow-flesh peaches), and 70-260 (plums). Total phenolics (in mg/100 g of fresh weight) were 14-102 (white-flesh nectarines), 18-54 (yellow-flesh nectarines), 28-111 (white-flesh peaches), 21-61 (yellow-flesh peaches), and 42-109 (plums). The contributions of phenolic compounds to antioxidant activity were much greater than those of vitamin C and carotenoids. There was a strong correlation (0.93-0.96) between total phenolics and antioxidant activity of nectarines, peaches, and plums.
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            Bioavailability and bioconversion of carotenoids.

            Factors that influence the bioavailability of carotenoids and their bioconversion to retinol are species of carotenoids, molecular linkage, amount of carotenoids consumed in a meal, matrix in which the carotenoid is incorporated, effectors of absorption and bioconversion, nutrient status of the host, genetic factors, host related factors, and mathematical interactions. In this paper, current knowledge of these factors is examined. Although data are not sufficiently comparable to allow an extensive systematic comparison of results, a number of conclusions can be drawn from the information available.
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              Characterization and quantitation of antioxidant constituents of sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.).

              Sweet peppers (Capsicum annuum L.) cv. Vergasa have been studied at four maturity stages (immature green, green, immature red, and red). The individual phenolics (hydroxycinnamic acids and flavonoids), vitamin C (ascorbic acid and dehydroascorbic acid), and individual carotenoids were characterized and quantified. Five hydroxycinnamic derivatives and 23 flavonoids were characterized and quantified from the pericarp of sweet pepper by high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry. Identification was carried out by their UV spectra, chromatographic comparisons with authentic markers, identification of hydrolysis products, and tandem mass spectrometry analysis. Hydroxycinnamic derivatives, O-glycosides of quercetin, luteolin, and chrysoeriol, and a large number of C-glycosyl flavones have been characterized. Some of these compounds were found for the first time in nature. Clear differences in the individual and total phenolic content were detected between the different maturity stages. Immature green pepper had a very high phenolic content while green, immature red, and red ripe peppers showed a 4-5-fold reduction. Ascorbic acid was the main form of vitamin C, and its content increased as the pepper reached maturity. The red ripe stage had a relevant impact on the carotenoids content. Thus, immature green peppers showed the highest content of polyphenols, while red ripe fruits had the highest content of vitamin C and provitamin A.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Molecules
                Molecules
                molecules
                Molecules
                MDPI
                1420-3049
                18 February 2011
                February 2011
                : 16
                : 2
                : 1710-1738
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia; E-Mails: hockeng_khoo@ 123456yahoo.com (H.-E.K); knag76@ 123456gmail.com (K.N.P); kchai21@ 123456yahoo.com (K.-W.K)
                [2 ]South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China; E-Mail: ymjiang@ 123456scbg.ac.cn (Y.J.)
                [3 ]Laboratory of Analysis and Authentication, Halal Products Research Institute, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
                Author notes
                * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: amin@ 123456medic.upm.edu.my ; Tel.: +603-89472435; Fax: +603-89426769.
                Article
                molecules-16-01710
                10.3390/molecules16021710
                6259627
                21336241
                c12a5739-4339-4d40-8336-f159d8270cb3
                © 2011 by the authors;

                licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

                History
                : 14 January 2011
                : 29 January 2011
                : 31 January 2011
                Categories
                Review

                carotene,cryptoxanthin,fruit,lutein,lycopene,vegetables,zeaxanthin
                carotene, cryptoxanthin, fruit, lutein, lycopene, vegetables, zeaxanthin

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