Background

The scientific evidence linking several diseases to human diet has highlighted the beneficial impacts of various natural food components, including carotenoids. The xanthophyll rhodoxanthin is a type of retrocarotenoid that might exert positive health-promoting actions.

Scope and approach

There is increasing evidence that rhodoxanthin exerts potential health-promoting biological activity in both in vitro and in vivo models, and some patents are available for food applications. However, as a food additive, rhodoxanthin is currently approved for use only in Australia and New Zealand. Considering the importance of carotenoids and their relevance to the market, this review provides a comprehensive description of natural rhodoxanthin, covering its distinctive properties and potential health-promoting actions. Moreover, the most promising advancements in the production, recovery, application and regulatory framework of this pigment from both plant and microbial sources are also considered. Lastly, we offer our expert perspective to the readers on the potential of rhodoxanthin as a prominent natural carotenoid in the food market.

Key findings and conclusions

It can be concluded that rhodoxanthin is a scarcely studied carotenoid with an unusual and interesting chemical structure that endows it with properties (such as color or antioxidant capacity) that are amenable for industrial applications in different sectors. The scarcity of studies about this carotenoid as well as its absence in common dietary sources offer both challenges and innovation opportunities. More research is needed to determine whether rhodoxanthin can ‘compete with’ or even ‘surpass’ carotenoids with a well-established market, such as canthaxanthin, lycopene or astaxanthin. Overall, we identify main knowledge gaps and research opportunities for application of rhodoxanthin in several industries.

中文翻译：

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紫杉醇：天然类胡萝卜素市场的新宠？

背景

将多种疾病与人类饮食联系起来的科学证据强调了各种天然食物成分（包括类胡萝卜素）的有益影响。叶黄素rhodoxanthin 是一种逆向类胡萝卜素，可能发挥积极的健康促进作用。

范围和方法

越来越多的证据表明紫杉醇在体外和体内都具有促进健康的潜在生物活性模型和一些专利可用于食品应用。然而，作为一种食品添加剂，紫杉醇目前仅在澳大利亚和新西兰获准使用。考虑到类胡萝卜素的重要性及其与市场的相关性，本综述全面描述了天然紫杉醇，涵盖其独特的特性和潜在的健康促进作用。此外，还考虑了植物和微生物来源的这种色素在生产、回收、应用和监管框架方面最有希望的进展。最后，我们向读者提供了我们的专家观点，即紫杉醇作为食品市场上重要的天然类胡萝卜素的潜力。

主要发现和结论

可以得出结论，紫杉醇是一种很少被研究的类胡萝卜素，具有不寻常且有趣的化学结构，赋予它适合不同领域工业应用的特性（例如颜色或抗氧化能力）。缺乏关于这种类胡萝卜素的研究以及它在常见饮食来源中的缺失既带来了挑战，也带来了创新机会。需要更多的研究来确定紫杉醇是否可以“竞争”甚至“超越”具有成熟市场的类胡萝卜素，例如角黄素、番茄红素或虾青素。总体而言，我们确定了紫杉醇在多个行业中应用的主要知识差距和研究机会。