Zeaxanthin is an isomer of lutein, and both are carotenoids with the same chemical formula, the only difference being the different positions of the double bonds in one end of the ring.

The English name of Zeaxanthin is zeaxanthin. The carotenoids absorbed by the human body are mainly beta carotene, and the lutein and zeaxanthin in the blood account for only about 20% and 3% respectively, while the macula in the retina has up to 80% of the carotenoids are lutein and zeaxanthin.

Zeaxanthin is one of the most common carotenoids in nature, the color source of many plants such as chili powder, corn, saffron, so it belongs to one of the phytochemicals, that is, plant nutrients.

Studies have shown that a 10:2 ratio of lutein to zeaxanthin can reduce the risk of age-related macular degeneration, but similar to lutein, long-term and stable accumulation is required to achieve protective effects in the macular area of the eye.

Zeaxanthin cannot be synthesized in animals and humans, and the zeaxanthin in animals comes from food. In nature, zeaxanthin is mainly found in the leaves of dark green vegetables, seeds of corn, wolfberries and fruit of sour pulp. In addition to plants, Cyanobacteria and some non-photosynthetic bacteria such as Mycobacteria, Erwinia and Flavobacteria can also synthesize considerable amounts of zeaxanthin themselves.

Development and application of zeaxanthin in food

In recent years, zeaxanthin has received some attention in the fields of food, medicine, chemical industry and animal feed. Zeaxanthin is mainly used as natural food colorant and health food additive in food field.

⚪Dietary nutritional supplement

At present, the United States FDA has approved zeaxanthin as a new nutritional additive, which can be used in food, and its dosage is generally not more than 5%. Zeaxanthin can  not be synthesized in the body and is completely derived from dietary intake. The development and utilization of zeaxanthin as a functional food show a significant upward trend. Some scholars have studied the effect of dietary intake of zeaxanthin fortified eggs on the serum zeaxanthin content of subjects, and found that zeaxanthin fortified eggs can significantly increase the serum zeaxanthin content.

⚪Colorant

Zeaxanthin because it can not be converted into vitamin A after absorption in the body, can be deposited in the body, with strong coloring ability, can be used to improve the color of egg yolk and fish and shrimp and other poultry meat color, improve food quality and nutritional value. In addition, due to the high concern of consumers on food safety issues, the use of natural colors instead of artificial colors has become a development trend in the food industry, zeaxanthin in clinical toxicological evaluation and animal tests have confirmed its safety, and has become a food color recognized by the European Union, but its structure is highly unstable and difficult to extract. The exploitation and utilization of zeaxanthin natural pigment still need to be further studied. Compared with chemically synthesized commercial colorants, zeaxanthin has the characteristics of natural, nutritious, safe, non-toxic, and low production cost, so it is an ideal colorant.

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