Bioavailability of natural (plant) food colorants

Today the challenge of food industry is to provide foods as natural as possible and thus the use of natural colorants is likely to expand. The four main classes of natural pigments from plants used in food industry are: carotenoids, anthocyanins, betalains and chlorophylls. In addition to provide colours, these compounds exhibit potential benefits for human health, making them even more attractive. In view of their extensive use, it is important to investigate the fate of natural pigments in the human body for safety reasons and for optimizing their health-promoting effects. Carotenoids have been the most studied so for, probably because their high consumption was linked to a lower incidence of certain diseases and because some of them exhibit a provitamin A activity. Clearly, more investigations ore needed for a better understanding of natural pigment bioavoilability.