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Review
. 2021 Dec 9;10(12):1967.
doi: 10.3390/antiox10121967.

Anthocyanins: Factors Affecting Their Stability and Degradation

Bianca Enaru  1 , Georgiana Drețcanu  1 , Teodora Daria Pop  1 , Andreea Stǎnilǎ  1 , Zorița Diaconeasa  1
Affiliations
Review

Anthocyanins: Factors Affecting Their Stability and Degradation

Bianca Enaru et al. Antioxidants (Basel). .

Abstract

Anthocyanins are secondary metabolites and water-soluble pigments belonging to the phenolic group, with important functions in nature such as seed dispersal, pollination and development of plant organs. In addition to these important roles in plant life, anthocyanins are also used as natural pigments in various industries, due to the color palette they can produce from red to blue and purple. In addition, recent research has reported that anthocyanins have important antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties, which can be used in the chemoprevention of various diseases such as diabetes, obesity and even cancer. However, anthocyanins have a major disadvantage, namely their low stability. Thus, their stability is influenced by a number of factors such as pH, light, temperature, co-pigmentation, sulfites, ascorbic acid, oxygen and enzymes. As such, this review aims at summarizing the effects of these factors on the stability of anthocyanins and their degradation. From this point of view, it is very important to be precisely aware of the impact that each parameter has on the stability of anthocyanins, in order to minimize their negative action and subsequently potentiate their beneficial health effects.

Keywords: anthocyanins; degradation; health benefit; pigments; stability.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The structure and color of the most common anthocyanins present in nature.
Figure 2
Figure 2
General chemical structure of anthocyanidin (flavylium cation) with sugar moieties and aromatic or aliphatic acid.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The action mechanism of methods for evaluating antioxidant activity.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Anthocyanins at different pH values, * predominant chemical form [42].
Figure 5
Figure 5
Types of anthocyanin co-pigmentation.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Content of SO2 in red and white wines, and anthocyanin reaction with SO2.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Methods for anthocyanins encapsulation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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