Food science

Introducing Marianne Su-Ling Brooks

Co-editor of Anthocyanins from Natural Sources

Tell us about your book

The idea for this book came about when we were extracting anthocyanins from local haskap berries and looking at incorporating them into a controlled release system that would be beneficial to human health. As we embarked on that research, we realised that anthocyanins have a complex chemistry, and that there are many things that are still being discovered in regards to their fate in the body and how this relates to their associated health benefits. We also realised that designing effective controlled release systems for natural health compounds, that would be targeted to the appropriate parts of the body, required knowledge in various areas e.g. chemistry, pharmacokinetics, physiology, food science and technology, engineering, pharmaceutical science and human health. This book aims to bring together the latest research in different fields related to the extraction of anthocyanins from natural sources, their health-promoting properties, pharmacokinetics, and controlled release systems that can modulate the release of these compounds for application in functional foods and nutritional supplements. This book is unique in its discussion of diverse research areas that are seldom brought together for consideration. We hope it will be useful for people wanting to understand more about the many factors that need to be considered when designing an effective nutraceutical product

What do you think will be the next big breakthrough in your subject area?

I think as more research is done to determine what happens to the anthocyanins in the body and how they are broken down into metabolites, then we will have a better understanding of the dosage and frequency required to achieve certain health benefits and how to tailor controlled release systems to exploit this in a safe manner. There are still questions around what happens to these metabolites in the body and their impact on human health.

Looking back what is the biggest development in your area of research?

The first sustained release formulation for drug delivery was identified in 1952 (according to the Journal of Controlled Release). More recently, the rapid expansion of food supplements, nutraceuticals and related products that are now available to consumers has been a major development, and this has opened up research where there is cross-over between some of the controlled release technologies used in the pharmaceutical industry with the natural bioactive compounds present in foods and vegetables.