Abstract
There has been increasing interest in the food safety, due to growing evidence for several health detriments of chemical additives including preservatives and colors. Since it has already been proven that consumption of chemical colors is associated with complications such as behavior change in children, it is important to evaluate plant pigments as new food colors. In addition to the palatability of their color, in the present study, the antimicrobial and antioxidant characteristics of three carotenoids (annatto, paprika and lutein) were investigated to find out whether can be used to decrease the chemical preservatives content of food products. The antimicrobial activity of these natural pigments was assessed by determination of MIC and MBC against ten microorganisms. The results indicated that all tested carotenoids, especially annatto, have antimicrobial effect particularly against Gram-positive bacteria including Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, Listeria monocytogenes and Streptococcus pyogenes. Among them, the most susceptible strain was B. subtilis (MIC = 0.093 mg/mL, MBC = 0.187 mg/mL). Moreover, the antioxidant properties were also evaluated using two assays: one in aqueous system (DPPH) and another in lipid system (β-carotene bleaching test, BCB). Both antioxidant assays (DPPH and BCB) confirmed that annatto has potent antioxidant activity (IC50 = 68.52 and 73.12 μg/mL, respectively) in comparison with the tested formulation of paprika and lutein. These findings demonstrated that natural pigments may be interesting additives for use as food colors and co-preservatives to reduce chemicals in food matrices.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
P. Bridle, C.F. Timberlake, Food. Chem. 58, 103–109 (1997)
C.F. Timberlake, B.S. Henry, Endeavour 10, 31–36 (1986)
J.B. Nevado, C.G. Cabanillas, A.C. Salcedo, Anal. Chim. Acta. 378, 63–71 (1999)
S. Ghidouche, B. Rey, M. Michel, N. Galaffu, Food Chem. 139, 978–985 (2013)
D. McCann, A. Barrett, A. Cooper, D. Crumpler, L. Dalen, K. Grimshaw et al., Lancet 370, 1560–1567 (2007)
M.J. Scotter, Food Addit. Contam. Part A 28, 527–596 (2011)
A. Rodríguez-Bernaldo, H.S. de Quirós, Costa, J Food Compos. Anal. 19, 97–111 (2006)
V. Galindo-Cuspinera, S.A. Rankin, J. Agric. Food Chem. 53, 2524–2529 (2005)
S. Kiokias, M.H. Gordon, Food Chem. 83, 523–529 (2003)
O.N. Irobi, M. Moo-Young, W.A. Anderson, Int. J. Pharmacogn. 34, 87–90 (1996)
R. Gómez, M. Alvarez-Orti, J.E. Pardo, Meat Sci. 80, 823–828 (2008)
R. Kumar, W. Yu, C. Jiang, C. Shi, Y. Zhao, J Food Process. Eng. 33, 1065–1078 (2010)
M. Viuda-Martos, G.L. Ciro-Gómez, Y. Ruiz-Navajas, J.E. Zapata-Montoya, E. Sendra, J.A. Pérez-Álvarez, J. Fernández-López, J. Food Saf. 32, 399–406 (2012)
M. Iranshahi, M. Hassanzadeh-Khayat, B.S.F. Bazzaz, Z. Sabeti, F. Enayati, J. Essent. Oil Res. 20, 183–185 (2008)
A. Shakeri, F. Khakdan, V. Soheili, A. Sahebkar, R. Shaddel, J. Asili, Ind. Crop. Prod. 84, 224–229 (2016)
M. Iranshahi, A. Fata, B. Emami, B.M.J. Shahri, B.S.F. Bazzaz, Nat. Prod. Commun. 3, 1543–1546 (2008)
M.R. Loizzo, A. Pugliese, M. Bonesi, F. Menichini, R. Tundis, Food Sci. Technol. 64, 623–631 (2015)
M.R. Loizzo, V. Sicari, M.C. Tenuta, M.R. Leporini, T. Falco, T.M. Pellicanò et al., Int. J. Food Sci. Technol. 51, 2057–2063 (2016)
A. Júnior, L. Asad, E. Oliveira, K. Kovary, N.R. Asad, I. Felzenszwalb, Genet. Mol. Res. 4, 94–99 (2005)
P. Molnár, M. Kawase, K. Satoh, Y. Sohara, T. Tanaka, S. Tani et al., Phytother. Res. 19, 700–707 (2005)
E. Biehler, F. Mayer, L. Hoffmann, E. Krause, T. Bohn, J. Food Sci. 75, 55–61 (2010)
L.L. Mensor, F.S. Menezes, G.G. Leitão, A.S. Reis, T.C. Santos, C.S. Coube et al., Phytother. Res. 15, 127–130 (2001)
T. Kulisic, A. Radonic, V. Katalinic, M. Milos, Food Chem. 85, 633–640 (2004)
V. Galindo-Cuspinera, D.C. Westhoff, S.A. Rankin, J. Food Prot. 66, 1074–1078 (2003)
H.O. Boo, S.J. Hwang, C.S. Bae, S.H. Park, B.G. Heo, S. Gorinstein, Ind. Crop. Prod. 40, 129–135 (2012)
H. Yetim, O. Sagdic, M. Dogan, H.W. Ockerman, Meat Sci. 74, 354–358 (2006)
M.R. Loizzo, M. Bonesi, A. Serio, C. Chaves-López, T. Falco, A. Paparella et al., Int. J. Food Proper. 20, 899–910 (2017)
R. Jain, N. Katare, V. Kumar, A. Samanta, S. Goswami, C. Shrotri, J. Nat. Sci. 2, 84–90 (2012)
S. Songca, C. Sebothoma, B. Samuel, J. Eloff, Afr. J. Biochem. Res. 6, 172–178 (2012)
A. Shakeri, F. Khakdan, V. Soheili, A. Sahebkar, G. Rassam, J. Asili, Ind. Crop. Prod. 58, 315–321 (2014)
S. Soetarno, S. Sukrasno, E. Yulinah, S. Sylvia, J. Matemat. Sains. 2, 57–63 (2009)
K. Sanatombi, G. Sharma, Not. Bot. Horti. Agrobo 36, 89 (2008)
F. Oke, B. Aslim, S. Ozturk, S. Altundag, Food Chem. 112, 874–879 (2009)
K.M. Haila, S.M. Lievonen, M.I. Heinonen, J Agric. Food Chem. 44, 2096–2100 (1996)
M. Adamu, V. Naidoo, J.N. Eloff, BMC Vet. Res. 10, 52 (2014)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The Authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shakeri, A., Soheili, V., Karimi, M. et al. Biological activities of three natural plant pigments and their health benefits. Food Measure 12, 356–361 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11694-017-9647-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11694-017-9647-6