Publish Time: 2022-07-02 Origin: Site
Lutein is an indispensable component of the retina and macula of the eye. Some studies have found that lutein plays a great role in reducing UV damage and preventing eye damage, and can improve visual function. Now let's introduce lutein in detail.
Lutein, also known as "phytolutein", is the main pigment in the macular region of the human retina. Is lutein carotene? There is no doubt that the answer is No. carotene is not the same as lutein. Lutein is actually a kind of carotene and an important visual nutrient to protect the eyes from damage. Lutein has a wide range of food sources. It often exists together with zeaxanthin in nature. It is the main component of plant pigments such as corn, vegetables, fruits, flowers and so on. Lutein exists in many orange fruits and vegetables such as papaya, pumpkin, citrus, medlar, peach, etc., but the most abundant food materials are in green leafed vegetables, such as kale, spinach, leek, Chinese cabbage, celery leaves, coriander, etc.
Lutein has a special eye protection function. The functions and effects of lutein are reflected in the following points. Firstly, lutein is the main pigment component in the macular region of the retina, which can absorb harmful light to avoid fundus damage. Secondly, lutein has the function of vasodilation, which can improve the blood microcirculation of fundus and promote the supply of nutrients. Thirdly, lutein can form the regeneration of opsin in retinal cells, prevent high myopia and retinal detachment, improve vision and protect vision. Finally, lutein is an antioxidant that can remove harmful free radicals and avoid visual cell failure. In addition, lutein has coloring effect, anticancer effect, delaying early arteriosclerosis and preventing diabetes.
So many people will also have a question, is lutein a vitamin? In fact, lutein is essentially an antioxidant. It protects the eyes by blocking and reducing the harmful free radicals produced during oxidation, protects the eyes from light damage, and reduces the incidence of cataract incidence rate. With the growth of age, macular degeneration is becoming one of the important reasons for the permanent blindness of the elderly. Scientists estimate that the age of people over 60 years old will double by the middle of this century through clinical data. This data is still very grim.
In combination with various functions of lutein, we suggest that the following groups of people can take it in combination with other nutrients.
1. People who need to work in the sun for a long time, such as athletes, aircraft pilots, guards, traffic police, sanitation
2. Patients with eye diseases: people with cataract, glaucoma, presbyopia, amblyopia, strabismus and astigmatism can be relieved by regular and quantitative consumption of lutein.
3. The staff who often use the computer or stare at the electronic screen for a long time and the people who often stay up late or night workers can try.
4. Patients with other diseases: cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, urinary protein, diabetes, etc. can take lutein in an appropriate amount according to their own conditions.
In addition, lutein can be extracted by drying, organic solvent extraction, microwave extraction, supercritical carbon dioxide extraction and enzyme-assisted extraction.
High performance liquid chromatography
High performance liquid chromatography is a sensitive, efficient and rapid separation method, which can accurately detect the content of various components in its samples. It is the most widely used detection method for quantitative analysis of lutein. This method not only has high accuracy and good stability, but also can detect the content of lutein in samples efficiently and quickly, so it is very popular.
Colorimetry
Colorimetry is a method based on Lambert Beer law. The most common one is ultraviolet visible spectrophotometry, which is a relatively simple, fast and low-cost detection method. It is based on the positive ratio between the concentration and absorbance of the tested substance. But at the same time, this method can not analyze different isomers of lutein, and has poor sensitivity and is easy to be disturbed. These are the prominent shortcomings of UV-vis spectrophotometry, which seriously restrict its application and development.