Miglioramento e validazione dell'analisi cromatografica dei carotenoidi nel latte vaccino

The thesis was carried out as a part of an Erasmus grant at the Foulum Research Centre, University of Aarhus, located in the central region of Jutland, Denmark. The work was carried out in a semester, from March to September 2014, in the labs of the Food Science Department. The beginning of the work was dedicated to the literature research about carotenoids in bovine milk. The aim was to acquire the appropriate knowledge to start the next part concerning the laboratory analysis. Carotenoids are precursors of vitamin A, and protect the human health from cardiovascular diseases, some cancers and age-related macular degeneration, through their antioxidant properties. From the nutritional viewpoint, they are divided in provitamins and inactive carotenoids. Between these, there are the xanthophylls, like lutein and zeaxanthin, which were analyzed with β-carotene (characterized by provitamin activity). In previous experimental procedures, carried out at the Research Centre of Foulum, the analysis of these compounds gave unexpected and underestimated results. For this reason, it was chosen to verify the validity of the analytical method used in the Centre.