NEWS
The world's leading synthetic biology practitioner
New Food Ingredients | Deep Understanding of Dihydroquercetin and Quercetin
Release time:
2021-11-09
In April 2021, the National Health Commission issued Document No. 5 of 2021, approving the release of dihydroquercetin as a new food ingredient. Why is it dihydroquercetin instead of quercetin, and what are the differences between the two? Now we will introduce you to these two raw materials.
In April 2021, the National Health Commission issued Document No. 5 of 2021, approving the release of dihydroquercetin as a new food ingredient. Why is it dihydroquercetin instead of quercetin, and what are the differences between the two? Now we will introduce you to these two raw materials.
quercetin
Quercetin is a widely distributed flavonoid compound in the plant kingdom, which is found in many vegetables, fruits, and Chinese herbal medicines. In 1936, Szent Gyorgyi first isolated and identified quercetin. The US FDA approved quercetin (≥ 99.5%) processed from natural products as a GRAS substance in 2010. In addition, in Japan and South Korea, quercetin is included in the existing categories of food additives and natural food additives, respectively. The intake of quercetin in most countries is generally 10-20mg/d. Quercetin is currently not a drug, health food, or food ingredient in China.
Dihydroquercetin
Dihydroquercetin, also known as paclitaxel or quercetin, is a dihydroflavonol compound belonging to the vitamin P family. Dihydroquercetin is a reduced form of quercetin, which is the product of hydrogenation of the double bonds at positions 2 and 3 in the flavonoid nucleus. In 1938, Hungarian biochemist Albert Szent Gyorgyi first discovered it. Dihydroquercetin is commonly found in Siberian larch, yellow cedar (Douglas fir), cedar, yew, and other fruits. In recent years, it has also been found in fruits such as grapes, oranges, and grapefruit. In 2017, dihydroquercetin was approved by the European Union as a new food ingredient and launched on the EU market. In the United States and Russia, dihydroquercetin was initially listed as a pharmaceutical raw material, but later expanded to the food industry with its development; Other countries such as Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Canada use dihydroquercetin as raw material and apply it in fields such as medicine, functional foods, special diets, and cosmetics.
The National Health Commission approves the disclosure of new food ingredients
Dihydroquercetin is a scarce global resource and an extremely precious ingredient in medicine and functional food. Due to the fact that yew and yellow cedar have been listed as globally endangered tree species and logging is prohibited, while larch is only distributed in eastern Siberia, northeastern Mongolia, northeastern China, and North Korea, with a long growth cycle, the resources available for production are extremely scarce and scarce. It is understood that currently, only China and Russia have mastered the extraction and large-scale production technology of dihydroquercetin in the world. China's domestic production capacity of dihydroquercetin is about 16 tons, and the global annual production does not exceed 30 tons.
Dihydroquercetin is known as the "luxury" of the most natural, precious, and powerful "universal antioxidant" discovered globally to date. According to data, the global demand for dihydroquercetin is 70 tons by 2027. At present, only the United States, Russia, Japan and other countries have developed various medicinal and edible products using dihydroquercetin as raw material. dihydroquercetin has been approved as a new food raw material in China, filling the gap in the domestic market for dihydroquercetin. It will be widely used in food, health food, cosmetics, pharmaceutical industry, industry, agriculture and other fields, with a very broad development prospect.
Next：
→ Related news