Chlorophyll Breakdown Products are Active Antioxidants

The breakdown of chlorophyll in ripening fruits, similar to the breakdown of green to yellow and red pigments in senescing leaves during autumn, produces decomposition products called nonfluorescing chlorophyll catabolytes (NCC). A team led by Bernhard Kräutler at the University of Innsbruck (Austria), by examining NCC from apple and pear peels, found that these compounds are highly active anti-oxidants. During decomposition, chlorophyll molecules released from its protein complexes are highly phototoxic. The molecules can absorb light and transfer the energy to other molecules; for instance, they can transform oxygen into a highly reactive and destructive form. Kräutler and his colleagues were able to demonstrate that NCCs have an opposite effect. NCCs are powerful antioxidants and can perform important physiological roles in plants. Studies are now being made to examine the effect of NCCs in animal systems.

Read more at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jabout/26737/press/200744press.html?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0