On October 8, 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) released its first World Vision Report, which showed that around 2.6 billion people around the world are nearsighted, including 312 million people under the age of 19. The incidence of myopia among urban Chinese youth is as high as 67%. Now from children, teenagers, adults and the elderly due to excessive use of electronic products, eyes in a long-term fatigue state, dry eyes to daily life has brought great trouble, so eye care has become a necessity.
Eye care is now in demand, and lutein and lutein extract are also in demand.
Lutein, an important nutrient for eye development
Lutein is an important nutrient element for eye development. It accumulates in the retina of the human eye, distributes in the macular area of the eye and the whole retina, mainly participates in the formation of macular pigment in the retina, in addition, the central part of the brain of the human body also accumulates a high concentration of lutein.
Lutein cannot be synthesized by the human body itself but must be absorbed from the outside world. Babies can obtain it from breast milk. Adults can get from the nature, common vegetables such as carrots, spinach, pumpkin, leek, corn, and other plants, 100 grams have more than 10 mg of lutein; However, the effect of lutein supplement cannot be achieved by only the amount of daily diet, so it is a good choice to supplement lutein supplement with high content.
Lutein is derived from the lutein ester on the market, marigold lutein esters is plants or micro algae that contain a carotenoid fatty acid ester, marigold flowers in content is higher, marigold as raw material, after dehydration, crushing, solvent extraction, purification, concentration, drying and other steps, many of the food that shield an eye on the market are added the raw material.
So which is better, lutein or lutein ester? The problem starts with the difference between the two.
What is the difference between lutein and lutein ester
1. Chemical structure
The molecular formula of lutein is C40H56O2, the relative molecular weight is 568.85, CAS No. 127-40-2; Lutein is a dihydroxy carotenoid containing a ring of rhodoxone.
Molecular structure of lutein all-trans isomer
Lutein ester molecular formula: C72H116O4, the relative molecular weight is 1045.71.
Molecular structure of lutein ester all-trans isomer
As can be seen from the structural formula, lutein ester is the fatty acid structure of lutein, with a higher molecular weight.
Lutein ester is a kind of carotene fatty acid ester. Its main structure consists of two six-membered carbon rings connected by a long chain containing 18 carbon atoms conjugated double bond. Lutein esters can be divided into trans and cis lutein esters, and most of them exist in natural plants in all-trans molecular configuration.
2. Process
Simple process of lutein and lutein ester
Lutein ester is extracted from marigold chrysanthemum with organic solvent, and then lutein ester is further saponified with alkali reagent, the fatty acid structure of lutein ester -R is converted to -OH, and lutein becomes. Lutein ester is the intermediate product of lutein, which indirectly indicates that lutein ester is the natural component of marigold, not lutein.
Three, the source
This form of lutein does not exist in nature. For example, lutein exists in the form of free non-esterification in green vegetables and fruits, such as broccoli, green beans, green peas, kidney beans, kale, collard greens, spinach, lettuce and other green vegetables and fruits.
However, lutein in yellow or orange fruits and vegetables is in the form of fatty acid esterification of lutein such as myritic acid, lauric acid and palmitic acid. For example, there is a large amount of lutein ester in mango, papaya, peach, plum (plum), pumpkin, melon, orange and so on, but not free lutein.
Spectral analysis showed that the pigment components in marigold mostly existed in the form of esters, which were mainly composed of lutein esters of 8 different fatty acids. The form of fatty acids also made lutein more stable in marigold.
4. Metabolic processes
Whether lutein and lutein ester are good or not depends on their utilization and metabolism. Lutein naturally exists in macular area and brain of human fundus, and modern studies have also found that lutein can be directly absorbed and utilized by the body through human intestinal tract.
Lutein ester has a terminal fatty acid structure, and the molecule is relatively large and cannot be directly used. It needs to be decomposed into free lutein and then absorbed and utilized.
The bioavailability of lutein esters is related to the amount of fat in the diet. Lutein esters usually require esterase or lipase to catalyze hydrolysis, so appropriate fat intake is beneficial to the absorption and utilization of lutein esters.
5. Efficacy
Under the same dose lutein or lutein ester which eye protection effect is better? In fact, there is no definitive answer to this question, but we may be able to see the difference in efficacy from the registration of health food.
In addition, among lutein registered products, seven health care functions are anti-oxidation, and four products are declared to have the effect of enhancing immunity. This may reflect that lutein can be recognized more effectively in eye care food.
