© 2004 Hindawi Publishing Corporation

Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology • 2004:5 (2004) 239–240 • PII. S1110724304407013 • http://jbb.hindawi.com

EDITORIAL

Anthocyanins—More Than Nature’s Colours

Izabela Konczak1∗ and Wei Zhang2†

1Food Science Australia, Cooperative Research Centre for Bioproducts, 16 Julius Avenue,Riverside Corporate Park, North Ryde, NSW 2113, Australia

2Department of Medical Biotechnology, Cooperative Research Centre for Bioproducts, Flinders University,5E110, Flinders Medical Centre, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia

Research over the past decade has produced incontro-vertible evidence for a vast array of health benefits aris-ing from the consumption of fruits and vegetables. In anendeavor to identify the active health-promoting ingre-dients, many researchers have focused on the propertiesof the flavonoids, a large class of phenolic compoundsthat is abundant in such foods. Most prominent amongthe flavonoids are the anthocyanins—universal plant col-orants responsible for the red, purple, and blue hues evi-dent in many fruits, vegetables, cereal grains, and flowers.Represented by over 600 molecular structures as identi-fied to date, anthocyanins are of particular interest to thefood colorant industry due to their ability to impart vi-brant colours to the product. Now it seems highly likelythat they also enhance the health-promoting qualities offoods.

Anthocyanins were incorporated into the human dietmany centuries ago. They were components of the tradi-tional herbal medicines used by North American Indians,the Europeans, and the Chinese, and were habitually de-rived from dried leaves, fruits (berries), storage roots, orseeds. Anthocyanin-rich mixtures and extracts (thoughnot purified compounds) have been used historically totreat conditions as diverse as hypertension, pyrexia, liverdisorders, dysentery and diarrhoea, urinary problems in-cluding kidney stones and urinary tract infections, andthe common cold. They have even been purported to yieldimprovements to vision and blood circulation.

Recent studies using purified anthocyanins or antho-cyanin-rich extracts on in vitro experimental systemshave confirmed the potential potency of these pigments.Demonstrable benefits include protection against liverinjuries; significant reduction of blood pressure; im-provement of eyesight; strong anti-inflammatory andantimicrobial activities; inhibition of mutations caused bymutagens from cooked food; and suppression of prolifer-ation of human cancer cells. Along with other phenoliccompounds, they are potent scavengers of free radicals,although they can also behave as pro-oxidants. Becauseof their diverse physiological activities, the consumption

of anthocyanins may play a significant role in preventinglifestyle-related diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and car-diovascular and neurological diseases.

Many questions remain. We do not know, for exam-ple, whether these apparent health benefits stem fromanthocyanins alone, or from their synergistic interac-tions with other phenolic compounds. Are the health-promoting qualities of anthocyanin-phenolic mixturespreserved across the various food systems? What is the fateof anthocyanin molecules after consumption? Reports onbioavailability of anthocyanins indicate that less than 1%of consumed anthocyanins is detectable in human plasmaand urine. Are the health-protective qualities observed inin vitro studies also displayed in vivo? If so, what might bethe mechanism of the biological activity of anthocyanins?

The Third International Workshop on Anthocyaninsorganized by the Cooperative Research Centre for Bio-products and Food Science Australia in Sydney, Australia,January 27–29, 2004, provided a forum for discussing thenutritional, physiological, and therapeutical functions ofanthocyanins, and the opportunities for development ofnovel anthocyanin-based functional foods in compliancewith regulatory requirements. Through scientific presen-tations and dialogue among researchers, industry man-agers, and invited consumers, one aim of the workshopwas to popularize the application of anthocyanins as nat-ural food colorants with nutraceutical qualities. Biotech-nological progress in meeting the requirements of thefood colorant industry and consumers, such as in the ge-netic engineering for production of selected anthocyaninswith enhanced stability and/or health-beneficial proper-ties, was described. Plant cell cultures were suggested asan excellent research tool to explore the “anthocyaninenigma” wherein interactions between anthocyanins andother phenolic compounds or metals can facilitate or evenenhance the physiological activities of anthocyanin-richextracts. Indeed, insightful comparisons were drawn be-tween the effects of anthocyanins on animal cells and theirnative functions in plant cells. Display and degustation ofanthocyanin-based food products was provided by Wild

240 I. Konczak and W. Zhang 2004:5 (2004)

(Germany), Nutrinova Australia Ltd, Kingfood AustraliaLtd, Tarac Technologies Ltd (Australia), and The NaturalConfectionery Co (Australia), and served as an encourag-ing example to both researchers and industry managersthrough their search for novel anthocyanin-based foodproducts promoting good health.

The program of IWA2004 (International Workshopon Anthocyanins) offered 6 plenary lectures and 19 oralpresentations in sessions covering anthocyanins in plantcells—function, biosynthesis, and regulation; applicationof plant cell cultures and bioprocessing for accumula-tion of anthocyanins with enhanced commercial/healthproperties; health beneficial effects of anthocyanins; de-velopment of anthocyanin-based functional foods; andanthocyanins and the mystery of red wine color. The pre-sentations were accompanied by 26 posters. We wouldlike to thank 170 authors from 13 countries (Australia,China, Finland, France, India, Japan, Germany, Nepal,New Zealand, Portugal, Taiwan, UK, and USA) for theircontributions to the program of IWA2004.

This special issue of the Journal of Biomedicineand Biotechnology combines selected works presented atIWA2004. It reflects the diversity in presentations and dis-cussion, and aims to disseminate information gatheredduring the workshop. We thank 63 authors of the sub-mitted papers for their contribution. The preparation ofthis special issue would not have been be possible withoutthe generous support of 40 experts in various areas of an-thocyanin research coming from 19 countries, who exten-sively evaluated the manuscripts submitted and throughtheir constructive questions and suggestions significantlycontributed towards the present form of this issue of theJournal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology.

Izabela KonczakWei Zhang

Izabela Konczak is a Research Scien-tist with the Food Ingredients and Func-tionality team of Food Science Australia,Sydney. Her recent projects focus on ap-plication of biotechnology for produc-tion of selected secondary metaboliteswith potential application in food andpharmaceutical industries as well as dis-covery of novel bioactive phytochemi-cals, studies on their physiological activities, bioavailability, andpossible application as nutraceuticals. With 4 years of pro-fessional experience in Europe (Poland), followed by over 10years of postdoctoral research in Japan, New Zealand, Aus-tralia, and USA, she has developed interdisciplinary skills acrossbiotechnology, including cell line development, accelerated ac-cumulation of specific secondary metabolites in plant cell cul-tures, biotransformation, bioprocessing, and genetic modifica-tion. She is the author of commercially applied plant cell cul-tures based technology for rapid multiplication of Sanderso-nia hybrids (New Zealand) and the Coinventor of technologyfor production of anthocyanins in sweet potato cell cultures(patents in Japan and Australia).

After joining Food Science Australia and the Cooperative Re-search Center for Bioproducts in the year 2000, she initiated andcoorganized the International Workshop on Anthocyanins se-ries aiming at popularizing the knowledge on health-preventiveproperties of anthocyanin-rich extracts of fruits and vegetablesand their enhanced application as natural food colorants andingredients of functional food products.

Wei Zhang was born on 11 April 1969.He has been a Biochemical Engineersince 1989 and received his PhD degreein biochemical engineering from DalianInstitute of Chemical Physics, ChineseAcademy of Sciences, in 1994. He has astrong theoretical and experimental ex-pertise in the areas of integrated biopro-cessing, membrane bioreactor, plant cellculture, immobilized cell system, modelling and supercomputersimulation of bioprocesses as well as marine bioproducts engi-neering. His postdoctoral research career has brought him towork in a number of top universities and institutions includ-ing the University of Tokyo (Japan), the University of Cam-bridge (UK), and Cornell University (USA). As a result, he haspublished a total of over 100 publications in refereed journalsand conferences (in more than 80% as first author). His inter-national experience includes working in China, Korea, Japan,Australia, UK, and USA that brings enormous opportunitiesfor international R&D collaborations. He has been involved inorganizing committees of several international conferences asmember or chair. He has been giving seminars and presenta-tions in various national and international conferences and re-search laboratories. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in biopro-cessing and Head of Plant Cell Culture Laboratory at the CRCfor Bioproducts, Flinders University.

∗ E-mail: izabela.konczak@foodscience.afisc.csiro.au† E-mail: wei.zhang@flinders.edu.au