Anthocyanins widely exist in flowering plants (angiosperms), and their content in plants varies greatly with varieties, seasons, climate and maturity[ 5] According to preliminary statistics, anthocyanins are contained in 27 families and 73 genera, such as purple sweet potato, grape, blood orange, red ball cabbage, blueberry, eggplant, cherry, red berry, strawberry, mulberry, hawthorn, morning glory and other plant tissues. Anthocyanins are mainly used in food coloring, dyes, medicine, cosmetics and so on.
Application
Antioxidant and free radical scavenging function
Anthocyanins belong to bioflavonoids, and the main physiological functions of flavonoids are free radical scavenging ability and antioxidant ability. Studies have proved that anthocyanins are the most effective antioxidants and the most powerful free radical scavengers found by human beings. The antioxidant performance of anthocyanins is 50 times higher than that of VE and 20 times higher than that of VC. Purple Sweet Potato Anthocyanin products can scavenge and inhibit - Oh, H2O2 and other reactive oxygen species, especially - Oh is stronger than ascorbic acid, and the scavenging effect is dose-dependent with concentration.
Anti mutation function
The function of anthocyanins not only makes plants present colorful colors, but also active molecules with health functions such as reducing enzyme activity and anti mutation. Studies have shown that the extract with a certain concentration of anthocyanin can effectively prevent carcinogenesis at different stages, but the individual role of anthocyanin is uncertain, partly because anthocyanin is easy to degrade after bioassay after separation from other stable components such as phenols.
Application in food
With the development of science and technology, people pay more and more attention to the safety of Food Additives. The development and utilization of natural additives has become the general trend of the development and use of additives. Anthocyanins can not only be used as nutritional enhancers in food, but also as food preservatives instead of synthetic preservatives such as benzoic acid, and can be used as food colorants in ordinary drinks and food, which meets people's general requirements for natural, safe and healthy food additives.
