Lutein is a fat soluble oxygenated carotenoid. It is widely found in vegetables, fruits, flowers and some types of algae. Natural lutein has the advantages of strong pigment, rich nutrition, no toxic, no side effects etc. It is a good food pigment and nutrition supplement.

Research shows that tagetes erecta has the highest lutein content, which is 100 times more than regular fruits and vegetables, and about 10 times more than chrysanthemum. Therefore tagetes erecta is the most ideal material to extract lutein.

A large number of studies have shown that lutein has biological activities such as vision protection, anti-oxidation, anti-tumor, anti-mutation, prevention of cardiovascular diseases, delay atherosclerosis, repair of ultraviolet damage, enhancement of immunity and anti-cancer.

Lutein cannot be synthesized by human body directly, so it needs exogenous ingestion, which means intake of lutein from food and supplement. After lutein entering the body, it binds to the lipoproteins in the plasma and transports to the rest of the body through the blood circulation.

However lutein is highly selectively concentrated in the macula, the density of lutein in the macular area reaches 1 mmol/L. The function of keeping high density of lutein in the macular area is to protect the eyesight and visual sense.