Carotenoids and Their Health Benefits

Proceedings of Natural Pigments Conference for South-East Asia (NP-SEA), March 20th-21th 2010, Balai Pertiwi Building, Ma Chung University, Malang; p. 113-117High consumption of fruits and vegetables has been correlated with low occurrence of degenerative disease such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases [ 1-3). This effect is associated with phytochemical compounds which arc abundantly avai lable in fruit and vegetable diets, such as carotenoids. In addition, recent studies also indicated that certain carotenoids, such as lutein and zeaxanthin, play an important role in preventing age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and cataract disease [2, 4, 5). Carotenoids protective role in health and disease is believed to be related to their molecular structure. which can serve as antioxidant [4] .This review will discuss the beneficial health effects of carotenoids. In addition, factors that involve the potential bioavailability of carotcnoids and accessibility will also be evaluate