Carotenoid Derivates in Achiote (Bixa orellana) Seeds: Synthesis and Health Promoting Properties

Abstract

Bixa orellana (family Bixaceae) is a neotropical fast growing perennial tree of great agro-industrial value because its seeds have a high carotenoid content, mainly bixin. It has been used since pre-colonial times as a culinary colorant and spice, and for healing purposes. It is currently used as a natural pigment in the food, in pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries, and it is commercially known as annatto. Recently, several studies have addressed the biological and medical properties of this natural pigment, both as potential source of new drugs or because its ingestion as a condiment or diet supplement may protect against several diseases. The most documented properties are anti-oxidative; but its anti-cancer, hypoglucemic, antibiotic and anti-inflammatory properties are also being studied. Bixin’s pathway elucidation and its regulation mechanisms are critical to improve the produce of this important carotenoid. Even though the bixin pathway has been established, the regulation of the genes involved in bixin production remains largely unknown. Our laboratory recently published B. orellana’s transcriptome and we have identified most of its MEP (methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate) and carotenoid pathway genes. Annatto is a potential source of new drugs and can be a valuable nutraceutical supplement. However, its nutritional and healing properties require further study.

Changing Form and Function through Carotenoids and Synthetic Biology

“…Plant carotenoids and their derivatives are also important to other species that consume plants. Certain carotenoids are enzymatically converted into visual pigments and signals needed to control development while other carotenoids and their derivatives (apocarotenoids) contribute to eye health, cardiovascular health, function of the immune system, cognitive function, antioxidant activity, general fitness and interspecies communication (Thomas et al, 2014;Murillo and Fernandez, 2016;Rivera-Madrid et al, 2016;de Carvalho and Caramujo, 2017;Rubin et al, 2017;Toews et al, 2017;Zhao and Nabity, 2017;Eggersdorfer and Wyss, 2018;Harrison and Quadro, 2018;Saint et al, 2018). However, carotenoids in plants are far more than colorful pigments.…”

Uso De Bixina Na Dieta De Frangos De Corte E Seus Efeitos No Desempenho Zootécnico E Qualidade Da Carne

“…As dietas experimentais (Tabela 1) foram formuladas de acordo com as recomendações nutricionais de Rostagno et al (2011). Água e ração foram fornecidas à vontade durante os 42 dias de período de criação.…”

“…São substâncias que atuam como inibidores de radicais livres, interferindo no mecanismo de auto-oxidação de lipídios (Decker e Xu, 1998 (Taham et al, 2015;Helal et al, 2017). A bixina é um apocarotenóide linear com ligações duplas e compreende até 80% do teor total de carotenóides presentes nas sementes de urucum (Mercadante e Pfander, 1998;Rivera-Madrid et al, 2016). Além disso, é um corante não tóxico (Raddatz-Mota et al, 2017), solúvel em óleo (Giuliano et al, 2003), coloração amarelo-avermelhada (Ul-Islam et al, 2016) e age como antioxidante (Giuliano et al, 2003;Cardarelli et al, 2008;Chisté et al, 2011) e hipolipemiante, como mostrado por Lima et al (2003), que realizaram um experimento com coelhos hiperlipidêmicos.…”

Stability and Antioxidant Activity of Annatto (Bixa orellana L.) Tocotrienols During Frying and in Fried Tortilla Chips

“…Palm oil and rice bran oil are good sources of T3 (Abidi and Rennick ; Sundram and others ), but most commodity vegetable oils have predominantly T and little to no T3. Annatto is an oily extract from the seeds of the tree Bixa orellana L.(Rivera‐Madrid and others ) that is rich in carotenoids and has been used as a colorant by the food industry for over 60 y. Annatto's lipid extract is unusual in that it contains a high concentration of δ‐T3 (90% of the total tocols), as well as some α‐ and δ‐T3, yet scant amounts of T (Frega and others ). Commercial T3 extracts are derived from annatto, palm oil, or rice bran oil, and are currently used primarily as dietary supplements.…”