Colored phytonutrients: Role and applications in the functional foods of anthocyanins

Anthocyanins are natural compounds present in the plant kingdom characterized by the a typical orange/red/purple/blue colors, responsible of the colored present in most cases the of fruits, nuts, flowers, and vegetables in general. They have key role in the plants (including protection from UV radiations, antimicrobial and antioxidant activity), and have gain researchers attentions based on the many human health-promoting properties, based on epidemiological studies that have highlighted a direct correlation between the consumption of vegetable colored and the prevention/reduction of, for instance, cardiovascular diseases, inflammation and diabetes, just to mention a few. Moreover several studies on animal models, cell in culture, and human clinical trials, indicate the involvement of anthocyanins (and their aglycone forms, anthocyanidins) in antioxidant, antimicrobial, visual and neurological protection. These potentiality of anthocyanins make them a suitable candidate for the production of functional food (but also pharmaceutical, cosmetics and dietary supplements), due to the presence, in nature, of a very high number different compounds belonging to anthocyanins, everyone characterized by a well defined chemical structure and able to perform different biological roles. In this chapter we described the chemical and biological features of this molecules trying to clarify the increasing interest in their use, especially in functional food and the elements that characterized their metabolism and implication for disease alleviations, as well as the one responsible of their production and accumulation.