Opportunities for the marine carotenoid value chain from the perspective of fucoxanthin degradation

Abstract

Marine carotenoids, particularly fucoxanthin, are emerging in the food value chain and gaining traction for their role in delivering health benefits. Unfortunately, the very feature of fucoxanthin which confers its bioactivities also renders it unstable. It is imperative to have a better understanding on the mechanisms involved to mitigate undesirable losses. This paper presented a review on fucoxanthin bioactivities, stability, and opportunities along the value chain specifically during processing, storage, and transportation conditions. For bioactivities, fucoxanthin demonstrated antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-obese, antidiabetic as well as skin protective activities. Conditions such as low pH (pH 2 to 4), high temperature (beyond 100 °C), presence of light (light intensity of 6.9 to 42 µmol/m²/s) and continuous air exposure caused fucoxanthin instability which lead to its degradation. This review acts as an antecedent by providing insights and enabling informed decisions for managing unaccounted risks within the carotenoid value chains to minimize losses.

Keywords: Degradation products; Fucoxanthin; Fucoxanthin (PubChem CID: 5281239); Marine carotenoid; Microalgae; Processing; Stability; Storage; Value chain.