Vitamin A regulates many essential mammalian biological processes, including embryonic development. β-carotene is the main source of vitamin A in the human diet. Once ingested, it is packaged into lipoproteins, predominantly low-density lipoproteins (LDL), and transported to different sites within the body, including the liver and developing tissues, where it can either be stored or metabolized...

Background: Cucurbita maxima known as pumpkin belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae, widely used in traditional medicine. Methods: The present work evaluates antioxidant activity of different parts (leaves and fruit) maxima. Antioxidant was assessed through DPPH test β-carotene bleaching test. Result: results showed that ethanolic extract fruit leaves are rich polyphenols, flavonoids tannin with ...

Posidonia oceanica waste biomass has been valorized to develop bioactive multifunctional cellulosic aerogels (HCAG) by simpler and greener protocols. Hydrophobization of was achieved through PLA coating, while bioactivity imparted the incorporation hydrophilic (E2) hydrophobic extracts (E3) produced from same biomass. The led denser aerogels, with less porous structures. These showed outstandin...

Vitamin A is essential for life in all vertebrate animals. Vitamin A requirement can be met from dietary preformed vitamin A or provitamin A carotenoids, the most important of which is β-carotene. The metabolism of β-carotene, including its intestinal absorption, accumulation in tissues, and conversion to vitamin A, varies widely across animal species and determines the role that β-carotene pla...

African leafy vegetables (ALVs) are known to be high in β-carotene content and are preferred over kales due to this nutritional superiority. Ten different vegetables were collected from farm and market locations and analyzed for β-carotene content. Cooked vegetables (in single or in combination) as well as solar dried samples were prepared by the community members in the study area in the usual...

Propolis is a resinous substance collected by bees from plants with a complex and variable chemical composition. Propolis and its fractions possess multiple biological activities. This study focused on a chemical and statistical comparison between four Tunisian Propolis Essential Oils (PEO) and its antioxidant activities. Volatile oils were extracted by hydrodistillation a...

A new HPLC/DAD (Diode Array Detector) method is proposed for the identification of some carotene isomers. The operating conditions adopted permit the resolution of α-carotene, all-trans-β-carotene, 9-cis-β-carotene, 13-cis-β-carotene and 15-cis-β-carotene. Moreover, the chromatographic conditions reported are simplified in respect of those reported up to now. The method is applied to the determ...

β-carotene is a commonly used food colorant. In this work, a novel β-carotene producing strain, Serratia marcescens RB3, was isolated and identified by physiological and biochemical tests, as well as 16S rDNA sequence analysis. The production of β-carotene by S. marcescens RB3 was identified through HPLC analysis. The cultivation conditions for β-carotene production by S. marcescens RB3 were op...

Refining of edible and cosmetic oil consists various steps which include bleaching process. Bleaching is an important step as it removes colour pigments resulting in improvement taste appearance. In this work, activated bentonite marula shells were used to refine crude oil. Fresh was using H2SO4 whilst both KOH. Vacuum performed the shells. Fresh, activated, spent bentonites analysed X-ray Diff...

β-Carotene is an important dietary source of vitamin A for humans. However, the bioavailability and vitamin A equivalency of β-carotene are highly variable and can be affected by food- and diet-related factors, including the food matrix, food-processing techniques, size of the dose of β-carotene, and the amounts of dietary fat, fiber, vitamin A, and other carotenoids in the diet as well as by c...