Carotenoids, a class of medicinal components, showed activities in anticancer, antioxidation, eyesight enhancing, improving embryo development, softening blood vessels and neuron protection. Cordyceps militaris fruit bodies are rich in carotenoids and could be used as functional food for carotenes supplementation. Though previous research has found that total carotenoids of C. militaris fruit bodies could be significantly increased by stimulation of short wavelength light, however, the chemical composition and properties of carotenes of C. militaris are still unknown. 

Dr. DONG Jingzhou, under the supervision of Prof. WANG Qing and Prof. WANG Ying from Wuhan Botanical Garden investigated composition, direct quantification and light wavelength reaction of the main cordyceps carotenoids of C. militaris fruit bodies to provide theoretical basis for production and utilization of C. militaris. 

They separated and identified the novel carotenoids from C. militaris fruit bodies as xanthophylls and named as cordyxanthin-I, II, III, and IV. These four cordyxanthins proved to be highly water-soluble and could be directly quantified at 447 nm with b-carotene as a standard. Compared with traditional cultivation, the contents of the four cordyxanthins could be significantly increased by treatment of pink light. 

The cordyxanthins might be better pigments or carotene supplements in food industry or better anticancer functional food compared to traditional carotenoids such as b-carotene, lycopene, lutein and zeaxanthin.  

This research has been reported by Vertical News and Dr. DONG Jingzhou also has been invited to introduce this research in BIT's 2nd Annual World Congress of Food S & T-2013.  

This research was partially funded by the Ethnological Affair Committee Foundation of China, by Doctor Research Project of Hubei University for Nationalities. Results were published in Journal of Functional Food entitled “Composition and characterization of cordyxanthins fromCordyceps militarisfruit bodies”.