Chapter 15: Therapeutic Role of Natural Pigments in Functional Food Applications

Consumers throughout the world desire the most delicious and enticing foods while also requiring safer, more nutritious, and healthier products. Colour is one of the most important organoleptic qualities, influencing customer acceptance and food selection. Synthetic food colourants were widely utilized, but their usage in food applications was gradually reduced due to their side effects and toxicity, including allergic reactions and behavioral and neurocognitive impacts on the human body. Consequently, naturally produced food pigments appeared in the modern food era, which provide good quality, efficiency, and better organoleptic quality to the food while also contributing to health promotion. Anthocyanins, carotenoids, beet derivatives, annatto, and chlorophylls are among the most regularly used natural pigments that have strong regulatory standards to ensure the food quality (attributed to their safe and natural origin), improve the aesthetic (attributed to their colouring effects) and bioactive potential (attributed to their bioactivities, such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-cholesterol, and anti-diabetic effects, etc.) of food commodities, and simultaneously protect human health from several implications. This chapter deals with the major natural pigments, their chemistry, bioactive potential and their importance in sustainable functional food production.