Anthocyanins:  Anthocyanin research

Anthocyanins Provide Competence to Combat Diseases

This is not the first time when we are hearing of antioxidant plant foods. To be very precise, in the contemporary age, especially in the print media, like the magazines and also newspapers, and also the audiovisual media, we are hearing a lot of an assortment of antioxidant plant foods, that include berries like blueberries and cranberries, and there we do come across the words like Anthocyanins. What has more been learnt is that in the international arena a lot of researches are going on to identify the essential traits and also the various benefits of Anthocyanins. It should be remembered, that a lot of internationally famed research organizations are engaged in these researches.

What are Anthocyanins?

Anthocyanins, as have been learnt, are found to be water-soluble pigments that are found to reflect the red to blue range of the visible spectrum where the very color does depend on the acidity of the closely encircling medium. It has more been found, that the Anthocyanins have their mere existence only in plants that do have bright colors in everything ranging from flower petals to autumn leaves and edible fruits or vegetables. According to the studies of chemical identification there is the presence of as many as 600 unique anthocyanins in nature.

How do Anthocyanins get synthesized in the plant?

To have a crystal clear notion of this it is to be learnt that the Anthocyanins are formed from the chemical raw materials in the plant, by the means of the amino acid phenylalanine, or a different chemical, that is known as, malonyl coenzyme A. To the conclusion of the studies, these two very substrates are perceived to join for the formation of the base material for Anthocyanins, known as "chalcones" that in due course of time show the way to the production of Anthocyanins, following a series of enzyme steps.

The eminent researchers have also found that the base material of Anthocyanins is a group of similar structures that are known as "anthocyanidins" or "proanthocyanidins". This very group is also found to contain no sugar molecules, and with the attachment of sugars, there is the formation of anthocyanin glycoside, having the characteristic shape of anthocyanins in gradual manner. At the time of getting first isolated by chemists, a lot of anthocyanins were named after the colorful flowers from which they were extracted, that include petunidin (petunia), rosinidin (rose) and peonidin (peonies).

Even the antioxidant cyanidins are also anthocyanins, and are found to belong to the group of compounds, known as, flavonoids within the super-family of antioxidants named phenolics or polyphenols.

What is the role of Anthocyanins in a plant?

The Anthocyanins in a plant have a major role to play. What has come to the knowledge through different studies and also applications, that their existence is, above all, for the preservation of the regeneration of the plant. In case of flowers, the multicolored Anthocyanins of petals create a center of attention for the pollinators, while on the other hand, in fruits, like brightly colored berries, they are located in the skin for the attraction of the animals who are bent upon devouring the fruit and scatter the seeds in their droppings. This is indeed an emblem of the efficient way of symbiosis between a plant and a feeding animal.

Apart from this, Anthocyanins do also play a protective role much like a "sunscreen" by he methodology of absorbing the ultraviolet light that plants face from their constant exposure to the sun rays.

The "sunscreen" function, to many schools of thought, is considered as a prominent reason behind the turning of many deciduous plants into red, in the month of autumn. To their consideration, the time when green chlorophylls collapse, and as leaves begin to dehydrate and die, Anthocyanins are only seen to defend the remaining leaf tissues. It is at that time the plant moves nutrients back into the stems and vascular system of the tree.

How can people benefit from Anthocyanins?

According to several researches, Anthocyanins are found to posses to possess strong antioxidant qualities that are involved in offering protection to the cells of the fruit pulp and seeds from reactive oxygen species ("free radicals") formed during normal plant metabolism and exposure to ultraviolet light. In this regard, when you eat the anthocyanin-rich foods, you will get hold of the benefit of these antioxidant qualities that will render you the competence to combat against the perilous influence of free radicals.