The Department of Biology, in cooperation with the Continuing Education Unit at the College of Science has organized a lecture entitled “Carotenoids: their sources and importance” presented by Dr. Nisreen Hadi, in the presence of a number of students, researchers and those concerned with this topic. The lecture aimed to introduce carotenoids and the reason behind their name and the most important sources producing them, terms of therapeutic & industrial uses, food industries, textiles, medicines and cosmetics, as they not only work as dyes and Provitamin A, but also the role of carotenoids in humans in the prevention of chronic diseases.
The lecturer then talked about the most diverse and widespread pigments found in nature, indicating that the traditional sources of carotenoids are found in fruits and vegetables, in addition to bacteria, algae and fungi, confirming that plant carotenoids play an important role in the process of photosynthesis, noting that this process helps in absorbing light and removing excess solar energy in microorganisms, stressing that the main role of carotenoids is in protecting cells from the negative impact of reactive forms of oxygen and radiation, in addition to their use in food and fodder industry, as well as in pharmaceuticals and cosmetic products.
