CAROTENOIDS IN NUTRITION: THERAPY, SPECTROSCOPY AND TECHNOLOGY

Carotenoids are an essential component of the human diet. Bioactive by nature, they are rich in antioxidants, promote vitamin A activity and lower the development of chronic illnesses. As such they are an area of growing interest to researchers and scientists who are working to design, develop and launch new functional food products, dietary supplements and other nutritional solutions.
Carotenoids: Nutrition, Analysis and Technology is an up-to-date overview of the key areas of carotenoids in nutrition, therapy and technology. In the first section, the authors present a functional food perspective, outlining the therapeutic applications of the bioactive pigments. The second part is dedicated to the spectroscopic analysis of carotenoids, providing in-depth scientific methods and real research findings. In the final section, various technological applications of carotenoids are considered, including biotechnology and future prospects.
Written by international experts in the field, this comprehensive book will be of interest to food scientists and researchers, nutritionists and health food companies. It will be of particular use to anyone involved in the spectroscopic analysis of carotenoids and other related bioactives.

Author Information
- Agnieszka Kaczor is a postgraduate researcher in the Faculty of Chemistry at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. Her scientific interests concentrate on the application of vibrational spectroscopy and multitechnique imaging to study biological samples. Recently, she has focused on studying changes in cells and tissues upon pathology development with the help of Raman and AFM imaging as well as the application of Raman optical activity to investigate bioactive compounds.
- Malgorzata Baranska is a professor in the Faculty of Chemistry at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. She focuses on research of plant and medical bioactive compounds by means of spectroscopic methods, particularly modern Raman techniques (i.e., Raman imaging and Raman optical activity). The new direction of her research is related to lifestyle diseases, their development and methods of curing. This research in various in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo animal models is conducted partly in the Jagiellonian Centre for Experimental Therapeutics (JCET).

Table of Contents
1 Carotenoids: Overview of Nomenclature, Structures, Occurrence, and Functions 1

Part I Therapy 15
2 The Role of Antioxidants in Prevention of Premature Skin Aging 17
3 Antitumor Activity of Dietary Carotenoids, and Prospects for Applications in Therapy: Carotenoids and Cancer by Raman Imaging 31
4 Photoprotection and Radiation Protection by Dietary Carotenoids 43
5 Macular Carotenoids: Human Health Aspects 59

Part II Spectroscopy 75
6 Vibrational Spectroscopy as a Tool to Investigate Carotenoids 77
7 Structural Studies of Carotenoids in Plants, Animals, and Food Products 103
8 In Situ Studies of Carotenoids in Plants and Animals 131
9 Carotenoids in Pigment–Protein Complexes: Relation between Carotenoid Structure and Function 147

Part III Technology 159
10 Carotenoid Biosynthesis and Regulation in Plants 161
11 Carotenoid Bioavailability from the Food Matrix: Toward Efficient Extraction Procedures 191
12 Carotenoid Production by Bacteria, Microalgae, and Fungi 217
13 Impact of Stress Factors on Carotenoid Composition, Structures, and Bioavailability in Microbial Sources 241
14 Syntheses with Carotenoids 261
Index 291