STABILITY OF LUTEIN UNDER VARIOUS STORAGE-CONDITIONS

The stability of lutein, a major xanthophyll, was investigated under v arious storage conditions. Continuous exposure of lutein-containing sa mples to cold white fluorescent light (4600 lux) at 25 degrees C resul ted the degradation of lutein at 0.8% - 10.7% per day in the samples c ontaining ascorbic acid, ascorbic acid + KOH and H2O (as control) over a period of 75 days. It was found that ascorbic acid could retard lut ein degradation (0.04% - 2.5% per day) at temperatures from -30 degree s C to 50 degrees C under the alkaline condition in darkness. High tem perature promoted the degradation of lutein in all the samples. Under the alkaline condition and at low temperature (-12 degrees C), the sta bility of pure lutein was similar to that of the lutein extracted from the alga Chlorella protothecoides cultivated heterotrophically.