Anthocyanins are water-soluble vacuolar pigments that may appear red, purple, or blue according to pH. They belong to a parent class of molecules called flavonoids synthesized via the phenylpropanoid pathway. Anthocyanins occur in all tissues of higher plants, including leaves, stems, roots, flowers, and fruits. Anthoxanthins are their clear, white to yellow counterparts occurring in plants. Anthocyanins are derivatives of anthocyanidins which include pendant sugars.
Anthocyanins are powerful antioxidants in vitro. This antioxidant property may be conserved even after the plant which produced the anthocyanin is consumed by another organism, possibly explaining why fruits and vegetables with colorful skins and pulp are considered nutritious. Research continues to be underway as to the potential range of health benefits from anthocyanins.
If you want to keep your true love's heart beating strong, Susan Ofria, clinical nutrition manager at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, said the real food of love is dark chocolate and red wine. In moderation, red wine and dark chocolate are good health choices not just on Valentine's Day, but for any occasion.
Regular consumption of anthocyanin-rich strawberries and blueberries may help prevent heart attacks in young women, suggest study findings.
In evaluating the bioactive compounds of Illinois blueberry and blackberry wines, University of Illinois scientists have found compounds that inhibit enzymes responsible for carbohydrate absorption and assimilation. And that could mean a tasty way to help people with diabetes decrease their blood sugar.
The anthocyanin pigments that provide the "blood" color of blood oranges are not produced in significant amounts unless the fruit is exposed to cold conditions during its development or post-harvest. No cold exposure means poor anthocyanin production and the loss of the entire crop. This means that blood oranges can be grown in many areas of the world, but they are most likely to be exposed to the correct temperature conditions in only a few regions, including their major area of production in Sicily.
For the red pigmentation to develop, blood oranges normally require a period of cold as they ripen. The only place to reliably grow them on a commercial scale is in the Sicilian area of Italy around Mount Etna. Here, the combination of sun and cold/sunny days and warm nights provides ideal growing conditions.
Forget the oysters and the champagne this Valentine's Day. If you want to keep your true love's heart beating strong, Susan Ofria, clinical nutrition manager at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, said the real food of love is dark chocolate and red wine.
Health conscious consumers who hesitate at the price of fresh blueberries and blackberries, fruits renowned for high levels of healthful antioxidants, now have an economical alternative, scientists reported here today at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society. It is black rice, one variety of which got the moniker "Forbidden Rice" in ancient China because nobles commandeered every grain for themselves and forbade the common people from eating it.
A Kansas State University researcher is studying the potential health benefits of a specially bred purple sweet potato because its dominant purple color results in an increased amount of anti-cancer components.
A study published in Cancer Prevention Research , a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, identifies components of black raspberries with chemopreventive potential.
British scientists have developed purple tomatoes which they believe may possibly help fight cancer.
This finding comes out from a study by the University of Grenoble in collaboration with the other Centres participating to the FLORA Project, a European Commission funded research studying the effects of flavonoids, a variety of polyphenols, on human health.
The U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) is pleased to announce 11 new proposed monographs for dietary supplements for public notice and comment.
A new study by scientists in the U.S. has found that red and blue foods are the best when it comes to fighting cancer.
Forget expensive moisturisers and cosmetic surgery, a compound found in the humble elderberry could give a natural boost to skin.
Components in grapes, including some newly identified ones, work together to dramatically inhibit an enzyme crucial to the proliferation of cancer cells, say scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.