New Opportunities for Blueberry Anthocyanins as New Food Ingredients
The term "blueberry anthocyanins" has gradually entered the public's field of vision. However, before blueberry anthocyanins were approved as new food ingredients, blueberry extract was not a food additive, health food ingredient, or food ingredient in China, and cannot be applied to products in the aforementioned fields. After unremitting efforts, Blueberry Anthocyanins have finally been successfully declared as a new food ingredient by Lanmei Corporation.
Blueberry anthocyanins
Blueberry anthocyanins (a new food ingredient) are 15 complete and highly antioxidant anthocyanin components extracted from the blueberry fruit of "Blue Beauty 1". They are composed of five anthocyanins (cyanidin, delphinidin, paeoniflorin, petuniflorin, and mallow pigment) and three glycosides (galactoside, glucoside, and arabinose) bonded together. At the same time, its purity can reach 40% or above. Both conditions are indispensable to ensure good biological activity and easy absorption.
Faced with the great changes in the world, among the three driving forces of the economy, investment and exports are no longer favorable engines. The future of industries such as vegetable extraction, special food, and ordinary food is the domestic consumer market.
High quality and low price are always the core of competition, and to have sustained innovation capabilities in high quality and low price, it is necessary to have a controllable closed-loop industrial chain from raw materials to processing, application, and marketing in China.
For a long time, in the field of small berry processing and marketing, Chinese enterprises have been in a dilemma of relying on imports of raw materials, exports of intermediate products, and imports of terminal products. The new food raw materials of blueberry anthocyanins have created a new situation for enterprises to establish a closed-loop industrial chain in China, enabling domestic enterprises to continuously, stably, and healthily develop by utilizing the advantages of domestic blueberry resources, production capacity, research and development, and consumer market.
The biological utilization of blueberry anthocyanins is relatively low (about 3%), resulting in higher application costs. The bioavailability of blueberry anthocyanins can be increased by 10 to 40 times by using oral mucosa, freeze-dried flash release, protein compound, gel compound, nano, microencapsulation, slow and controlled release and other drug delivery system technologies. Zhejiang Lanmei Technology Co., Ltd. has completed the technical reserves of the above ways, which can provide high-quality solutions and services for various downstream application enterprises.
Reducing reactive oxygen species, principles of eye protection, and related research
The role of anthocyanins in reducing reactive oxygen species is widely known and has become an important mechanism for their response to various diseases. Research has shown that the mechanism of action of anthocyanins is mainly through two pathways: first, anthocyanins directly eliminate free radicals or reduce free radical generation; The second is to activate the enzyme system, including superoxide dismutase. The mechanism of action of blueberry anthocyanins in the field of eye protection is mainly based on the above pathways.
According to data from the National Health Commission and the National Bureau of Statistics, the population with refractive errors in China will exceed 700 million in 2022, accounting for nearly 50% of the national population; The population with dry eye syndrome is nearly 360 million, accounting for nearly 30% of the national population; There are more than 220 million people with cataract, and the incidence rate of cataract among people aged 60-89 in China is 80%. In addition, although the proportion of macular disease in the total population is not high, based on China's huge population base, the current number of patients has also reached nearly 30 million.
At the same time, the myopia rate among Chinese adolescents has remained high, and the problem is severe. According to data from the National Health Commission, the overall myopia rate among children and adolescents in China in 2020 was 52.7%. The myopia rate in kindergartens (data only covers large classes) reached 14.3%, 35.6% in primary school, 71.1% in middle school, and 80.5% in high school. Among them, 10% are highly myopic, over one-third are moderate myopic, and the proportion of moderate to high myopic is 50%.
The number of people under the age of 20 with myopia in China from 2015 to 2025 (in millions)
Anthocyanins contribute to visual health, and their protective mechanisms for the eyes mainly include the following aspects:
1. Anthocyanins have good ability to scavenge free radicals and can eliminate excess free radicals through reactions, thereby preventing the occurrence of oxidative damage;
2. Anthocyanins can activate the enzyme system of the retina, catalyze the generation of rhodopsin, enhance the sensitivity of the human eye to light, and enhance its dark adaptation ability;
3. Anthocyanins can promote blood circulation within retinal cells, accelerate material exchange and metabolism within cells, and protect the capillaries in the retina.
Anthocyanins can also have beneficial effects on vision, such as age-related macular degeneration, night vision, and visual fatigue (Yang, Wenjuan, et al., 2022).
Currently, there are over 800 scientific studies on blueberry anthocyanins on PubMed; On the domestic CNKI platform, there are nearly 300 research papers on blueberry anthocyanins, among which there is an increasing amount of research on the role of blueberry anthocyanins in visual health. With the continuous deepening of research by global researchers on the use of blueberry anthocyanins in the field of visual health, as well as the emergence of downstream end market products brought about by regulatory approvals, blueberry anthocyanins, as raw materials with solid scientific research endorsement support, high-frequency interaction with consumers, and higher awareness, can be seen to have more and greater potential and development space in the future eye care market.
At present, the market prospects for functional foods, health products, and other products are very broad. The advantage of blueberry anthocyanins is that they are very natural ingredients, and can play a good role in people of all ages,
General food market: consumers' demand for natural and functional food is growing, and they pursue novel forms of various products and form generational cycle consumption. Blueberry anthocyanins can be widely used in milk and dairy products, solid drinks, liquid drinks, jellies, gel candies, pressed candy, frozen drinks, baked food and other foods to meet the needs of different consumers.
Market for nutritional and health products: Blueberry anthocyanins, as a natural source of reducing free radicals and coping with visual fatigue, can be developed into targeted compound products based on the different health conditions of adolescents, middle-aged, and elderly people, covering the entire life process of such health consumption needs except for infants, pregnant women, and lactating women.
Post time: Dec-16-2023