Lutein and lycopene has chemopreventive activity, the possible mechanism is their antioxidant effects. Nutritional supplementation with lutein or lutein together with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, improves visual function and symptoms in atrophic age-related macular degeneration (ARMD). Lutein is a carotenol. It has a role as a plant metabolite and a food colouring. It derives from a hydride of a (6'R)-beta,epsilon-carotene.

Beta-carotene is a cyclic carotene obtained by dimerisation of all-trans-retinol. A strongly-coloured red-orange pigment abundant in plants and fruit and the most active and important provitamin A carotenoid. It has a role as a ferroptosis inhibitor, an antioxidant, a cofactor, a biological pigment, a provitamin A, a mouse metabolite, a plant metabolite and a human metabolite. It is a carotenoid beta-end derivative and a cyclic carotene.

Astaxanthin is a strong antioxidant which shows neuroprotective property and can reduce the markers of inflammation, it can reduce matrix metalloproteinase expression in human chondrocytes, it may be beneficial in the treatment of osteoarthritis.Astaxanthin has protective effect on fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, and suggests that oxidative stress and TLR4 signaling associated inflammatory reaction are involved in this process. Astaxanthin administration can reduce renal calcium oxalate crystal deposition possibly by modulating the renal renin-angiotensin system (RAS), which reduces the expression of OPN and TGF-β1 levels. Astaxanthin is a carotenone that consists of beta,beta-carotene-4,4'-dione bearing two hydroxy substituents at positions 3 and 3' (the 3S,3'S diastereomer). A carotenoid pigment found mainly in animals (crustaceans, echinoderms) but also occurring in plants. It can occur free (as a red pigment), as an ester, or as a blue, brown or green chromoprotein. It has a role as an antioxidant, an anticoagulant, an animal metabolite, a plant metabolite and a food colouring.

Resveratrol, a natural polyphenol that possesses anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective, blood-sugar-lowering, antiaging, and anti-cancer properties. It has a wide spectrum of targets including cyclooxygenases(i.e. COX, IC50=1.1 μM), lipooxygenases（LOX, IC50=2.7 μM, kinases, sirtuins, c-IAP1, c-IAP2, livin and XIAP. Resveratrol regulates gene transcription via activation of the stimulus-regulated protein kinases Raf and ERK and the stimulus-responsive transcription factors TCF and Egr-1.

Lutein and Zeaxanthin in neural tissue may have biological effects that include antioxidation, anti-inflammation, and structural actions. Lutein and Zeaxanthin may be protective against eye disease because they absorb damaging blue light that enters the eye. Zeaxanthin is a carotenol. It has a role as an antioxidant, a cofactor and a bacterial metabolite. It derives from a hydride of a beta-carotene.