From the simplest organisms like cyanobacteria up to higher plants and animals are producing natural pigments for various purposes.
Some of these natural pigments possess promising therapeutic potentials including, prevention of chronic diseases.
In this context, various plant, animal and microbial species have been explored as sources of natural pigments, particularly with the aim of identifying therapeutic pigments since bioactive natural pigments have received much interest in the production of modern nutraceutical and functional foods.