Effect of drying on the production of fucoxanthin isomers from brown seaweeds

Abstract

Fucoxanthin, an algal carotenoid with bioactivity that benefits human health, is gaining popularity as a functional food. Therefore, in this study, the effect of drying methods and conditions on the production of fucoxanthin isomers in three closely related Sargassum species with slightly different morphological lamina were investigated. The recovery of fucoxanthin after oven-drying was 1.1–1.3-fold higher than that after sundrying and varied 1.6-fold among the S. species used, indicating that each algal species has a different heat susceptibility even among closely related species, and should be optimized for each species and drying method. In Padina australis with homogeneous morphology, the optimal temperature to maintain all-trans form was 60°C with only a 5.3% loss, while other cis-isomer transformations were maintained at 80°C. The apparent activation energy estimated by Arrhenius plots differed for the all-trans form and cisisomer transformations, indicating the presence of different reactions between them.