Carotenoids
Carotenoids Information
Carotenoids are biological pigments which are the coloring of living organisms and valuable molecules needed for important metabolic reactions. They are distributed everywhere in leaves, flowers, fruits, and roots of plants. Carotenoids are also found in many animals, especially in marine invertebrates and in the brightly colored feathers of tropical birds. Carotenoids that are found in animals are derived from plant or algae sources.
Carotenoids have powerful antioxidant properties which defend against damaging singlet and triplet oxygen, a by-product of ultra violet rays and photosynthetic metabolism. These free radical scavengers prevent harmful and uncontrolled oxidation. Carotenoids also protect plants from direct ultra violet damage by absorbing high energy ultra violet photons and then safely defusing the energy along hydrocarbon chains.
The carotenoids consist of two main groups: the carotenes and the xanthophylls. Beta carotene, which nearly everyone is familiar with, is the most common carotene. On the other hand, canthaxanthin is a xanthophyll. A difference worth noting is that beta carotene converts in the mammalian system to vitamin A. Canthaxanthin, as well as all xanthophylls, do not convert to any extent to vitamin A.
Canthorex is a commercial product providing a source of canthaxanthin.
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