In this work, various concepts and features of anthocyanins have been comprehensively reviewed, taking the benefits of the scientific publications released mainly within the last five years. Within the paper, common topics such as anthocyanin chemistry and occurrence, including the biosynthesis of anthocyanins emphasizing the anthocyanin formation pathway, anthocyanin chemistry, and factors influencing the anthocyanins’ stability, are covered in detail. By evaluating the recent in vitro and human experimental studies on the absorption and bioavailability of anthocyanins present in typical food and beverages, this review elucidates the significant variations in biokinetic parameters based on the model, anthocyanin source, and dose, allowing us to make basic assumptions about their bioavailability. Additionally, special attention is paid to other topics, such as the therapeutic effects of anthocyanins. Reviewing the recent in vitro, in vivo, and epidemiological studies on the therapeutic potential of anthocyanins against various diseases permits a demonstration of the promising efficacy of different anthocyanin sources at various levels, including the neuroprotective, cardioprotective, antidiabetic, antiobesity, and anticancer effects. Additionally, the studies on using plant-based anthocyanins as coloring food mediums are extensively investigated in this paper, revealing the successful use of anthocyanins in coloring various products, such as dietary and bakery products, mixes, juices, candies, beverages, ice cream, and jams. Lastly, the successful application of anthocyanins as prebiotic ingredients, the innovation potential of anthocyanins in industry, and sustainable sources of anthocyanins, including a quantitative research literature and database analysis, is performed.

The present study was aimed at evaluating the antiproliferative potential of anthocyanin-rich fractions (ARFs) obtained from two commercially available juices (blueberry and blackcurrant juices) on three tumor cell lines; B16F10 (murine melanoma), A2780 (ovarian cancer) and HeLa (cervical cancer). Individual anthocyanin determination, identification and quantification were done using HPLC-MS. Antioxidant activity of the juices was determined through different mechanism methods such as DPPH and ORAC. For biological testing, the juices were purified through C₁₈ cartridges in order to obtain fractions rich in anthocyanins. The major anthocyanins identified were glycosylated cyanidin derivatives. The antiproliferative activity of the fractions was tested using the MTT assay. The antiproliferative potential of ARF was found to be associated with those bioactive molecules, anthocyanins due to their antioxidant potential. The results obtained indicated that both blueberry and blackcurrants are rich sources of antioxidants including anthocyanins and therefore these fruits are highly recommended for daily consumption to prevent numerous degenerative diseases.

Vegetables comprise a significant portion of our daily diet with their high content in nutrients including fiber, vitamins, minerals, as well as phenolic compounds. Vegetable consumption has been shown to be positively associated with the prevention of several degenerative diseases thanks to their bioactive compounds. Accordingly, five selected vegetables, namely, red chicory, red onion, eggplant, purple sweet potato, and black carrot were thoroughly assessed for their phenolic content in this study. For this purpose, the total phenolic and flavonoid content of these five vegetables and their antioxidant activities that are based on three common methods ABTS radical cation decolorization assay (ABTS), Cupric Ion Reducing Antioxidant Capacity (CUPRAC), and DPPH scavenging activity assay were determined. Additionally, HPLC-PDA/Electrospray ionization coupled with mass spectrometry (HPLC-PDA/-ESI⁺-MS)-based identification and quantification of the members belonging to polyphenols present in each vegetable were determined. Statistical correlations between antioxidant activities and the specific type of phenolic compounds, such as anthocyanins, flavonoids, anthocyanins, and phenolic acids were further elucidated. Phenolic acids (chlorogenic and syringic acids) were found to be the most abundant compounds that are present in all samples. Among the anthocyanins, cyaniding derivatives were present in all vegetables. In terms of their antioxidant activities, the analyzed vegetables were ranked as red chicory > purple sweet potato > black carrot > eggplant > red onion, in descending order. Superior antioxidant activities exhibited by red chicory and purple sweet potato were attributed to the high content of phenolic compounds, especially flavonols (quercetin-3,4-O-diglucoside) in red chicory and anthocyanins (peonidin-3-caffeoyl p-hydroxybenzoylsophoroside-5-glucoside) in purple sweet potato.

Until today, numerous studies evaluated the topic of anthocyanins and various types of cancer, regarding the anthocyanins’ preventative and inhibitory effects, underlying molecular mechanisms, and such. However, there is no targeted review available regarding the anticarcinogenic effects of dietary anthocyanins on skin cancers. If diagnosed at the early stages, the survival rate of skin cancer is quite high. Nevertheless, the metastatic form has a short prognosis. In fact, the incidence of melanoma skin cancer, the type with high mortality, has increased exponentially over the last 30 years, causing the majority of skin cancer deaths. Malignant melanoma is considered a highly destructive type of skin cancer due to its particular capacity to grow and spread faster than any other type of cancers. Plants, in general, have been used in disease treatment for a long time, and medicinal plants are commonly a part of anticancer drugs on the market. Accordingly, this work primarily aims to emphasize the most recent improvements on the anticarcinogenic effects of anthocyanins from different plant sources, with an in-depth emphasis on melanoma skin cancer. We also briefly summarized the anthocyanin chemistry, their rich dietary sources in flowers, fruits, and vegetables, as well as their associated potential health benefits. Additionally, the importance of anthocyanins in topical applications such as their use in cosmetics is also given.

Being delicious and containing strong disease-fighting agents, berries represent an increasing proportion of fruits consumed nowadays in our diet. However, berries are highly perishable as fresh and, therefore, they are usually processed into various products to extend their shelf-life and availability throughout the year. Among the fruit-containing products, jam is one of the most common due to its nourishing properties, its low production costs, and its accessibility for a lengthy period. Rather than home preparation, consumers nowadays increasingly prefer to purchase commercial jams from markets due to its convenience. Although fresh berries have been extensively studied for their phenolic compounds, a limited number of studies investigating commercially manufactured jams have been conducted so far. Considering this, the objective of this study was to assess the total phenolic, flavonoid, and anthocyanin content and the antioxidant activity of five commonly consumed commercial berry jams (blueberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) and blackcurrant (Ribes nigrun) mixture, blackcurrant (Ribes nigrun), cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) and raspberry (Rubus idaeus)) collected from the market. Even though a possible loss of phenolics, anthocyanins, and a decrease of radical scavenging activity may occur during jam processing and subsequent storage, our data indicated that the selected commercial jams remained good sources of nutritive molecules with antioxidant properties based on the high levels of total phenolics, flavonoids, anthocyanins, and elevated antioxidant activities determined in this study. Additionally, the samples were characterized by GC-MS for their volatile profiles, and terpenes were found to be the dominating class covering more than 74% of volatile compounds in the jams.