类胡萝卜素生物活性的研究进展

Recent Advances of Carotenoids Bioactivities

类胡萝卜素是水果蔬菜中一类营养和活性成分。近年来大量的流行病学证明食用含有类胡萝卜素的水果蔬菜可以降低慢性疾病的发生。类胡萝卜素的生物活性是继维生素A活性研究之后再次引起学者们的关注,特别是它们共有的抗氧化功能,以及番茄红素的抗前列腺癌功能,叶黄素对眼睛和皮肤的保护功能,隐黄质的抗骨质疏松功能。本文简述了类胡萝卜素结构、在食物和人体中的分布,重点介绍了类胡萝卜素生物活性的最新研究进展,并探讨了研究中存在的问题和未来的研究方向。

Carotenoids is a family of nutrient and bioactive components in vegetable and fruits. Recently considerable epidemical studies found that the vegetable and fruits containing carotenoids could reduce the risk of some chronic diseases. The bioaetivities of carotenoids except for the sources of VA are focused on again, especially the common antioxidant activity of all the carotenoids, the preventing of prostate cancer of lycopene, the protecting of eyes and skin and the preventing of osteoporosis. The paper briefly introduced the structure and occurrence in food and human body, emphasized especially the new researches of bioactivities, and discussed the problems and possible researching fields.