Carotenoids as food colorants.

The carotenoids are a chemically related group of pigments which occur widely and abundantly in nature. Fruits, vegetables and vegetable oils, dairy products, leaves, shrimp, lobster, the plumage of exotic birds, all contain carotenoids. Chemically, the carotenoids may be divided into carotenes, made up of carbon and hydrogen only, and oxycarotenoids containing oxygen in addition to carbon and hydrogen. The use of carotenoid-containing plant extracts for coloring foods has been practiced for centuries and continues today. Advances in chemical synthesis resulted in the complete laboratory synthesis of beta carotene in 1950. Since then the commercial synthesis of several carotenoids has been accomplished. In the U.S. three of these commercially synthesized carotenoids, beta-carotene, beta-apo-8'-carotenal, and canthaxanthin, are accepted color additives for use in foods and are exempt from certification. These three carotenoids are also widely accepted for food use in other countries. This paper deals with the chemistry and synthesis of these three carotenoids, with special emphasis on their numerous commercially available market forms and their characteristics, and on the application of these carotenoids in the coloring of food products.

Vitamin A - application technology.

The availability of synthetic vitamin A and its esters in unlimited quantities, has enabled populations around the world, consuming inadequate amounts of this vital micro-nutrient and hence subject to potential loss of sight or other manifestations of vitamin A deficiency, to have hope for a better future life. A technology exists for the preparation of synthetic vitamin A in various application forms. Many commonly-consumed foods may be used as carriers or vehicles of vitamin A to assure deficient populations of a sufficient intake of this antixerophthalmic and anti-infective vitamin.

Use of -l-ascorbic acid, ethocel coated ascorbic acid and ascorbate 2-sulfate in diets for channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus.

Purified diets with five levels (25, 50, 75, 100, and 200 mg/kg) of supplemental L-ascorbic acid (LAA), and equimolar levels of ethylcellulose coated L-ascorbic acid (EAA) and dipotassium L-ascorbate 2-sulfate dihydrate (AS) were pelleted and fed to 7.9 +/- 0.2 g channel catfish fingerlings for 20 weeks. A dietary level of 23 mg/kg of all three forms of vitamin C prevented spinal abnormalities. Approximately 50 mg/kg diet of either LAA or EAA was sufficient for maximal growth and feed efficiency. Growth response to AS was similar to a Michaelis-Menten type curve and 200 mg/kg diet of AS was necessary to achieve maximal growth. Blood and liver ascorbic acid levels were positively correlated with supplemental levels of LAA, EAA, and AS up to 200 mg/kg; however, blood and liver ascorbic acid levels of fish fed AS were considerably less than those fed LAA and EAA. Weight gains were positively correlated with blood ascorbate levels up to 7 microgram/ml. No measurable level of AS was detected in blood or liver. These results suggest that the rate of enzymatic hydrolysis of AS to LAA or rapid excretion of AS may have been the limiting factor.

Vitamin needs of the elderly.

Vitamin deficiency is a result of gradual depletion of body stores secondary to poor dietary habits or to disease. Marginal or preclinical vitamin deficiency results in nonspecific symptoms such as malaise, irritability or somnolence, loss of appetite and weight, and impairment of psychologic and physical performance socially or at work. These signs precede clinical signs of disease. The elderly are particularly vulnerable to vitamin deficiency because of the high incidence of illness and disability in the later years of life and because of other common problems, such as low income, poor appetite, and social isolation.

Biopharmaceutic factors in parenteral administration of vitamin E.

When properly formulated, micellar-type aqueous dispersions of tocopheryl acetate are administered intravenously or intramuscularly to dogs, the rate-limiting step in the bioavailability of the physiologically active free tocopherol is the rate of hydrolysis of the acetate ester. A similar dispersion of free tocopherol yields blood levels of tocopherol many fold higher than those obtained with the acetate ester after intravenous injection and also yields much greater increases in blood levels of free tocopherol after intramuscular injection than the acetate ester formulation, particularly in the early period after the dose.