A Review of the Biological Properties of Purple Corn (Zea mays L.)

Abstract

In the food and beverage industries, replacing synthetic colorants with plant-based colorants has become popular in recent times. Purple corn (Zea mays L.) is an important source of natural colorants due to its range in color from orange to purple. The whole plant of purple corn has a high amount of anthocyanin content. Anthocyanin is the water-soluble pigment found in various fruits and vegetables. The color pigments are chiefly found in the pericarp or kernels, in addition to corn cobs. Purple corn is rich in various health-promoting compounds, mainly anthocyanins such as cyanidin-3-O-glucoside, perlagonidin-3-O-glucoside, peonidin 3-O-glucoside, and their malonylated forms. This review emphasized recent updates regarding the in vitro and in vivo biological properties of extracts and compounds from purple corn. Purple corn color extracts possess a variety of biological properties, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, anti-diabetic, anti-obesity, etc. The results of in vitro and in vivo studies of the biological properties of purple corn could lead to the development of different health-promoting products in the near future.