What are carotenoid antioxidants?

What are carotenoid antioxidants?

Carotenoids are plant pigments responsible for bright red, yellow and orange hues in many fruits and vegetables. Carotenoids also act as antioxidants in the human body. They have strong cancer-fighting properties, according to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

How do you measure antioxidant activity?

ORAC Assay (The Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) ORAC assay is a method for quantifying the antioxidant strength of substances. It involves combining the sample to be tested (i.e. the antioxidant) with a fluorescent compound as well as a compound that generates free radicals at a known rate.

Does beta carotene have antioxidant activity?

Beta carotene is a potent antioxidant that may benefit your brain, skin, lung, and eye health. Food sources are likely a safer, more healthful choice than beta carotene supplements.

How many types of antioxidant assays are there?

There are two general types of assays widely used for different antioxidant studies.

What is the importance of carotene to our body?

It gives yellow and orange fruits and vegetables their rich hues. Beta-carotene is also used to color foods such as margarine. In the body, beta-carotene converts into vitamin A (retinol). We need vitamin A for good vision and eye health, for a strong immune system, and for healthy skin and mucous membranes.

Why antioxidant assay is important?

For most of the plant products, the compounds responsible for the antioxidant effects are phenolic. Thus a preliminary assessment would begin with the total phenol assay. The antioxidants generally scavenge these radicals thus it is important to measure the free radical scavenging activity using DPPH.

Why is vitamin E an antioxidant?

α-Tocopherol accounts for 90% of the vitamin E in human tissues and acts as an antioxidant (i.e., stops the chain reaction of free radicals producing more free radicals). Vitamin E protects cell membranes, proteins, and DNA from oxidation and thereby contributes to cellular health.

What is FRAP test?

FRAP assay stands for Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power Assay. The assay measures the antioxidant potential in samples through the reduction of ferric iron (Fe3+) to ferrous iron (Fe2+) by antioxidants present in the samples.

How do carotenoids help the body?

Carotenoids are beneficial antioxidants that can protect you from disease and enhance your immune system. Provitamin A carotenoids can be converted into vitamin A, which is essential for growth, immune system function, and eye health.

What are dietary carotenoids?

Dietary carotenoids are thought to provide health benefits in decreasing the risk of disease, particularly certain cancers and eye disease. The carotenoids that have been most studied in this regard are beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein, and zeaxanthin.

How to measure the antioxidant activity of carotenoids?

Comparative antioxidant activities of carotenoids measured by ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), ABTS bleaching assay (αTEAC), DPPH assay and peroxyl radical scavenging assay The purpose of this study was to assess the antioxidant activity of carotenes and xanthophylls measured by various methods, compared to α-tocopherol, BHA and BHT.

What is the ferric reducing antioxidant power assay?

One assay used to assess the antioxidant capacity was the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay, in order to determine the ferric reducing activity of carotenoids and food samples. The procedure was based on the work recently published by our research group ( Müller, Theile, & Böhm, 2010 ).

Are total antioxidant capacity measurements useful?

Several reviews support the utility of total antioxidant capacity (TAC) measurements [5], describing the advantages and limitations of these methods. It has been pointed out that the influence of an antioxidant in health could be independent of the direct effect on human cells and tissues [6].

Are antioxidants associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVD)?

Numerous observational studies have supported the hypothesis that antioxidants like carotenoids and vitamin E or metabolites of these nutrients are associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) ( Lichtenstein, 2009 ).