The alarming consequences of the current day lifestyle practices demand the need for natural metabolites. The recent shift of people's interest in natural therapy over synthetic medicine is gaining popularity. Carotenoids are one such group of pigments produced by photosynthetic organisms that have excellent antioxidant properties. Consumption of carotenoids is recommended for specific health benefits on the eye and the central nervous system. However, the increasing need for commercial availability of carotenoids has made it challenging for the researchers to identify better sources. The extraction of carotenoids for the production of nutraceutical-formulations requires the use of efficient sources concerning availability, production cost, extractability, and resourcefulness. Seaweeds are marine macroalgae that contain abundant photosynthetic pigments. Considering their availability and low cost of processing, seaweeds are a resourceful source of natural carotenoids like xanthophylls and provitamin-A carotenes. This study mainly focused on analyzing the carotenoid profile of locally found seaweeds of Dakshina Kannada district in India to understand their potential of using as an alternative source for commercial extraction of carotenoids. A total of 14 seaweeds including Chlorophyta, Rhodophyta, and Phaeophyceae were collected from the coastal belt of Mangaluru from selected representative stations. Xanthophyll carotenoids and provitamin-A carotenes were estimated and the former was found to be major pigments among the collected seaweeds. Results revealed the total carotenoid content in the order; Chlorophyta > Rhodophyta > Phaeophyceae. However, among the seaweeds studied only four showed the presence of β-carotene and α-carotene was detected only in Bryopsis sp. (40.72 μg/g). Among the xanthophyll carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin were detected in all the seaweed samples. Cladophora sp. showed the highest accumulation of lutein (248.67 μg/g) and zeaxanthin (50.20 μg/g). The findings of this study might consolidate the way to utilize natural bio-resources for commercial production of nutraceutical-formulations containing carotenoids.

当今生活方式的令人震惊的后果是需要天然代谢产物。人们对自然疗法的关注已超过了合成药物，这最近变得越来越流行。类胡萝卜素是由光合生物产生的这类颜料之一，具有极好的抗氧化性能。建议食用类胡萝卜素对眼睛和中枢神经系统具有特定的健康益处。然而，对类胡萝卜素的商业可用性的日益增长的需求使得研究人员寻找更好的来源具有挑战性。用于生产营养制剂的类胡萝卜素的提取需要使用有关可用性，生产成本，可提取性和机智的有效资源。海藻是含有大量光合色素的海洋大型藻类。考虑到它们的可用性和较低的加工成本，海藻是天然类胡萝卜素（如叶黄素和维生素原-A胡萝卜素）的丰富资源。这项研究主要侧重于分析印度Dakshina Kannada地区当地发现的海藻的类胡萝卜素特征，以了解其作为商业化提取类胡萝卜素来源的潜力。从选定的代表性站点的曼加罗尔沿海地带总共收集了14种海藻，包括绿藻藻，红藻藻和藻科。估计了叶黄素类胡萝卜素和维生素原-A胡萝卜素，发现前者是收集的海藻中的主要色素。结果显示总类胡萝卜素含量按顺序排列；绿藻> 红藻>藻科。但是，在所研究的海藻中，只有四个表明存在β-胡萝卜素，而α-胡萝卜素仅在Bryopsis sp。（40.72μg/ g）。叶黄素类胡萝卜素中，在所有海藻样品中都检测到叶黄素和玉米黄质。刚毛藻属。叶黄素（248.67μg/ g）和玉米黄质（50.20μg/ g）的累积量最高。这项研究的发现可能会巩固利用天然生物资源商业生产含有类胡萝卜素的营养制剂的方式。