Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Sep 2;9(9):819.
doi: 10.3390/antiox9090819.

Anthocyanins: From the Field to the Antioxidants in the Body

Affiliations
Review

Anthocyanins: From the Field to the Antioxidants in the Body

Vidmantas Bendokas et al. Antioxidants (Basel). .

Abstract

Anthocyanins are biologically active water-soluble plant pigments that are responsible for blue, purple, and red colors in various plant parts-especially in fruits and blooms. Anthocyanins have attracted attention as natural food colorants to be used in yogurts, juices, marmalades, and bakery products. Numerous studies have also indicated the beneficial health effects of anthocyanins and their metabolites on human or animal organisms, including free-radical scavenging and antioxidant activity. Thus, our aim was to review the current knowledge about anthocyanin occurrence in plants, their stability during processing, and also the bioavailability and protective effects related to the antioxidant activity of anthocyanins in human and animal brains, hearts, livers, and kidneys.

Keywords: anthocyanin metabolites; antioxidants; cardioprotection; hepatoprotection; nephroprotection; neuroprotection.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Landi M., Tattini M., Gould K.S. Multiple functional roles of anthocyanins in plant-environment interactions. Environ. Exp. Bot. 2015;119:4–17. doi: 10.1016/j.envexpbot.2015.05.012. - DOI
    1. Liang J., He J. Protective role of anthocyanins in plants under low nitrogen stress. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 2018;498:946–953. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2018.03.087. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cody R.B., Tamura J., Downard K.M. Quantitation of anthocyanins in elderberry fruit extracts and nutraceutical formulations with paper spray ionization mass spectrometry. J. Mass Spectrom. 2018;53:58–64. doi: 10.1002/jms.4033. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Zhao C.L., Chen Z.J., Bai X.S., Ding C., Long T.J., Wei F.G., Miao K.R. Structure–activity relationships of anthocyanidin glycosylation. Mol. Divers. 2014;18:687–700. doi: 10.1007/s11030-014-9520-z. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Blando F., Calabriso N., Berland H., Maiorano G., Gerardi C., Carluccio M.A., Andersen Ø.M. Radical Scavenging and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Representative Anthocyanin Groupings from Pigment-Rich Fruits and Vegetables. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2018;19:169. doi: 10.3390/ijms19010169. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources