Astaxanthin, also known as astaxanthin, lobster shell pigment, is called astaxanthin in English, abbreviated as asta. It is a carotenoid and the highest level of carotenoid synthesis, and in 1938 scientists first isolated this natural antioxidant from lobsters and named it astaxanthin. In recent years, with the rise of the functional food raw material market, astaxanthin has gained more attention, and "carotenoids", "strong antioxidants", "anti-free radicals" and so on are all potential labels of astaxanthin.
01 History of astaxanthin
As a highly effective functional food ingredient, the world is open to astaxanthin in Haematococcus pluvialis**. As an old developed country, Japan has been at the forefront of the international leadership in the application of functional foods, and even surpassed European and American countries in the application of many new foodsIn 1999, the US FDA approved Haematococcus pluvialis astaxanthin as a dietary supplement, and its potential function has been maximized in the United States.
According to reports, astaxanthin has obtained international patents in the United States for thrombolytic ingredients that break through the blood-brain barrier, substances that prevent kidney lesions of diabetes, new elements that reverse arteriosclerosis, "green antibiotics" without ***, and analgesic effects that can be used for arthritis. Subsequently, the European Union, China and others have successively willHaematococcus pluvialis** Astaxanthin was approved as a new resource food, and the application of astaxanthin was officially opened.
With the deepening of research, the application range of astaxanthin is also expanding. As one of the regions with strict food safety requirements, the EU must be very strict in its audit of astaxanthin. For example, in 2014, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) issued an opinion on the safety of astaxanthin-rich Astareal A1010 and Astareal L10 as ingredients in novel foods because their average daily intake is 0106 mg kg bw, exceeding the allowable daily intake (adi) of astaxanthin of 0034 mg kg bw, the application was directly rejected.
However, in terms of the scope of application, the regulations on astaxanthin are constantly being relaxed. On August 19, 2021, the European Union issued Regulation (EU) 2021 1377 to revise the conditions for the use of astaxanthin-rich oleoresin in new foods from Haematococcus pluvialis algae, which limits the maximum use to 8mg of astaxanthin per day, but the population does not include infants, toddlers, children and adolescents under 14 years old.
On August 2, 2023, the European Commission published Regulation (EU) 2023 1581, which amends (EU) 2017 the conditions of use of new foods from Haematococcus pluvialis algae (Haematococcus pluvialis algae) in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2015 2283 of the European Parliament and of the Council Annex to the 2470 implementation rules, the scope of use is delegated to people over 3 years old. Among them, children aged 3 to 10 years are 2 per day3 mg of astaxanthin, 10 mg per day for adolescents under 14 years of age7 mg of astaxanthin, 8 mg of astaxanthin per day for the general population over 14 years of age.
02 Development and transformation of astaxanthin
At present, astaxanthin is relatively rich, which can be synthesized artificially from carotene or extracted by natural organisms. Considering the issue of security,At present, only naturally derived ones can be used as food ingredients, and synthetic astaxanthin is mainly used for animal feed.
In the field of biological extraction, algae is one of the most ideal in nature, and a large number of studies have shown that the accumulation rate and total production of astaxanthin in Haematococcus pluvialis are higher than those of other green algae, and the astaxanthin content is 15%～3.0%。Moreover, the ratio of astaxanthin and its esters contained in Haematococcus pluvialis is similar to that of aquatic animals themselves, and the structure of astaxanthin in Haematococcus pluvialis is based on (3s,3'S) type is dominated by its natural state, which is also one of the roots of Haematococcus pluvialis that can become a food raw material.
Microbial fermentationWith its efficient enrichment ability, it has become one of the important functional ingredients in recent years**, and for astaxanthin, microbial enrichment is also excellent, and Saccharomyces erythrophyllum is the ideal for astaxanthin**. However, the astaxanthin in ginger yeast is mainly based on (3r, 3'r) was the dominant right-handed structure, and its biological activity was weaker than that of the left-handed (3s, 3 s) structure of Haematococcus pluvialis astaxanthin.
At the same time, the safety of astaxanthin in yeast ** has not been fully confirmed, on February 24, 2022, according to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), at the request of the European Commission, the EU Animal Feed Additives and Products (FeedAP) research group issued a scientific opinion on the safety and efficacy of astaxanthin-rich phaffia rhodozyma as a feed additive for salmon and trout. There is a lack of sufficient evidence in terms of tolerability, toxicological data, etc., and the safety of astaxanthin cannot be guaranteed.
In addition to expansion**, bio-accumulation is also an important way to make functional ingredients into food, such as selenium-rich rice, folate-rich eggs, and -aminobutyric acid sprouts, have become a reality, and the bioenrichment of astaxanthin may not be far away.
According to the report of the biotechnology research of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences published in the Plant Biotechnology Journal, by increasing the synthesis of lycopene and using RNAi technology to guide the conversion of lycopene to -carotene, the seed-specific bidirectional promoter is used to drive the -carotene hydroxylase gene and - The carotene ketoase gene extended the carotenoid synthesis pathway to astaxanthin synthesis in maize grains, and the germplasm content of maize with high astaxanthin reached 4776-111.82 mg kg dry weight. Natural astaxanthin can be safely used in laying hen feed for a long time, and the enrichment of astaxanthin in the eggs produced can reach 216 mg, and ** has similar isomers to astaxanthin-rich corn and Haematococcus pluvialis, which can exert equal nutritional effectiveness when used in layer feeding.
Although there are differences in the biological activity of astaxanthin with different structures, if it can be obtained through a more convenient or daily diet, even if the biological activity is not so significant, it is one of the potential ways for consumers to strengthen their health, after all, the more simplified and down-to-earth the access to the more competitive it is.
2023 Shenzhen Healthy Raw Materials and Food Ingredients Exhibition.
December 14-16, 2023 Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center (Bao'an New Hall).
For more information, please visit "fia-China".