Product Description
What is Lutein?
Lutein- one of the most common Carotenoids widely presented in plants especially dark-green leafy
vegetables. Lutein is synthesized only by plant itself and like other xanthophylls which is usually
found in green leafy vegetables such as spinach, kale and Marigold Flower.
In green plants, lutein act as modulate light energy and serve as a non-photochemical quenching agents
to deal with triplet chlorophyll (an excited form of chlorophyll), which is over produced at very high
light levels, during photosynthesis. Lutein is also a very important natural yellow pigment in our lives
due to its color.
Introduction of Marigold Lutein
Many fruits and vegetables contain lutein, but due to the low content, it cannot be easily separated.
The occurrence of marigold flowers makes it to be an easily thing. Marigold flower is an annual herb
with orange color. Lutein is firstly been found in marigold flower petals from Switzerland. It exists as
an ‘esterified’ form and is commonly known as lutein ester. Lutein ester is derived from marigold
flowers, which is a rich, safe and natural source of lutein.
Marigold flowers is originally planted in Mexico, but currently in Heilongjiang, Jilin, inner Mongolia,
Shaanxi, Yunnan province and other places of China also have large-scale cultivation .
As known from the above form, lutein is present in plants as fatty-acid esters, with one or two fatty
acids bound to the two hydroxyl-groups. For this reason, saponification (de-esterfication) of lutein esters
to yield free lutein may yield lutein in any ratio from 1:1 to 1:2 molar ratios with the saponifying fatty
acid. So there are two kinds of products form extract from marigold flower, lutein and lutein ester.
Marigold Flower Extract
We have two kinds of Marigold Flower Extract, lutein ester and lutein free which are all come from
marigold flower.
Lutein ester is directly separated from marigold flower by recrystallization. And lutein free is
obtained by saponification of lutein oleoresin.
There are many differences between these two kinds of products. For example, lutein ester is an
oil soluble material, but lutein itself is not. Lutein ester is a dark-red powder, and lutein is a yellow-
orange powder. We show you 2 HPLC spectrums contrast the difference between them.
We can provide both of them with the specification of UV/HPLC 5%~90%. And we can also produce
the micro-capsule of lutein and lutein ester which could be much stable in air and sunlight, and could be
soluble in cold water, we call it CWS. The lutein and lutein ester micro-capsule use some hydrophilic
materials as the shell which embedding the lutein or lutein ester in it. Because of the hydrophilic
shell, lutein or lutein ester avoid from the light and oxygen which became much stable and water
soluble. This picture shows the micro-capsule under electron microscopy, in which we can found that
lutein embedded by the shell and to be micro-capsule.
Main Function
You're born with a certain amount of lutein in your eyes, but your body could not reproduce it. Lutein is important in our body, it gives us benefits in many aspects .Lutein protects the eyes from
damage caused by the sun’s UV rays as well as harmful blue lights from computer, T.V screens,
smart-phones and tablets. Many medical studies have shown that lutein reduces inflammation and
redness in the skin and may even prevent skin cancer.
The macula is the region of the retina responsible for central vision, Lutein also can prevent AMD.
Several studies shown that an increase in macula pigmentation decreases the risk of eye diseases
such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in 2007, John Paul San Giovanni of the National
Eye Institute, Maryland has found that lutein and zeaxanthin protect against blindness, affecting
1.2 million Americans, mostly after age 65. Lutein and zeaxanthin reduce the risk of AMD.[4]
Lutein as Carotenoids, it has great an antioxidant, anti-aging ingredients. What’s more, due to lutein
natural orange and yellow color it can be use as natural pigment in food application and other field.
How to use lutein (dosage)?
Without adequate consumption, the amount of lutein in the eye may deplete with age. Leading doctor
recommend you to get at least 6 mg of lutein per day to help maintain proper eye health. Since your
body could not synthesize lutein, you must constantly absorb it through the foods you eat. Dark, leafy
green vegetables like spinach and kale are especially good sources. But you have to eat over 2 bowls of
raw spinach every day to get the recommended daily dose of 6 mg lutein. Taking a multivitamin may
help, but many multivitamins contain only a fraction of the recommended 6 mg lutein. In fact, the leading
multivitamin contains just 0 .25 mg of lutein − a mere 4% of the recommended amount.
According to the report from American FDA, a recommend dosage is 6-12mg lutein per day.
Side effects of lutein
Since the human body does not synthesize its own lutein, the artificial form of lutein masquerades
as the pure form and deposits itself onto the human skin and within the eyes, overdose can cause your
skin become yellow. In comparison to this disastrous series of bodily events, a natural intake would
have ensured the body to absorb the lutein in a controlled manner as opposed to unnecessarily piling
up and creating layers on the human skin. Thus, it is very important to consume lutein under the
supervision of an ophthalmologist or a physician.
Application
Lutein has the characteristics, such as natural, nutrition and multifunction. It is extensively used
in food, health products, cosmetics, pharmaceutical and feed additive.
(1)Applied in food field, it is mainly used as food additives for colorant and nutrient.
(2Applied in pharmaceutical field, it is mainly used in vision care products to alleviate visual fatigue,
reduce incidence of AMD, retinitispigmentosa (RP), cataract, retinopathy, myopia, floaters, and glaucoma.
(3)Applied in cosmetics, it is mainly used to whitening, anti-wrinkle and UV protection.
(4)Applied in feed additive, it is mainly used in feed additive for laying hens and table poultry to improve
the color of egg yolk and chicken. Make high commercial value fishes more attactive, such as salmon,
trout and spectacular fish.
